Association of British Scrabble Players

Language > Hing - Kor > Irish


Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.


abthane a monastic region of the old Irish church.
acushla an Irish term of address, darling.
aisling a vision or dream.
alannah my child, a term of endearment used with one's child.
alpeen a cudgel.
angashore a miserable person given to complaining
arrah an Anglo-Irish exclamation expressing wonder etc.
ardri ardrigh a title given to the High King of Ireland. [Irishard, noble + ri, king].
asthore sweetheart.
bainin bawneen a type of wool produced in Ireland that is only partially scoured and so retains some natural oil. [Ir. bainin, homespun].
banshee banshie in Irish folklore, a female spirit who wails and shrieks before the death of a member of a family.
barmbrack barnbrack a currant bun.
bawn the fortification round a house, an enclosure for cattle. [Ir. babhun, enclosure].
bedad an Irish oath, = by God.
begorah begorrah begorra an interjection attributed to Irish speakers.
bejabers another interjection attributed to Irish speakers, = by Jesus!
bibe a type of banshee whose crying is an omen of death [Irish badbh].
blarney skilful flattery; nonsense, humbug; (verb) to flatter, humbug. [Blarney Castle, near Cork, where a stone difficult to reach is said to confer the gift of persuasive talk on those who kiss it].
bodhran a shallow one-sided drum used in Celtic music.
bodrag bordraging a hostile attack, a raid. [Irish buaidreadh].
bonnyclabber milk naturally clotted on souring. [Irish bainne, milk, + claba, thick].
boreen a lane.
bosthoon a boor
bowsie bowsey a mean person
boxty an Irish dish of potato griddle-cakes, eaten with various fillings
brehon a judge or magistrate in ancient Ireland. [Irish breitheamh].
broguery the use of an Irish accent.
buckeen a poor man who acts as if wealthy.
cain kain rent paid in kind. [Irish cain].
camogie an Irish game, a form of hurling, played by women.
carageen carrageen carragheen a kind of dark red, branched seaweed; Irish moss. [Irish carraigin, little rock].
chiefery chiefry cheverye an Irish chieftaincy.
claddagh an Irish ring
coarb comarb the head of a family in an Irish sept; an ecclesiastical successor.
colcannon an Irish country dish of potatoes and cabbage.
colleen an Irish girl. [Ir. cailín dim. of caile countrywoman, girl].
corcass a salt-marsh, or land susceptible to flooding by a river. [Irish corcach].
coshery the ancient right of an Irish chieftain to quarter himself on his tenants. [Irish coisir, feast].
cottier an Irish tenant.
craic pleasant conversation
cratur crathur craythur a woman; whiskey
crios a multi-coloured woollen belt worn by men in the Aran islands > CRIOSES
croppy an Irish rebel of 1798.
crubeen a pig's trotter, as food. [Irish crub, hoof].
cuddy the right of a lord to entertainment from his tenant.
culchie a rustic, a country labourer.
currach curagh curragh a long-shaped boat similar to a coracle. [Irish curach].
dawney dull or slow
donnybrook a brawl.
drisheen a type of Irish sausage made with sheep's blood.
duan a division of a poem, a canto.
dudeen dudheen a clay pipe. [Ir. duidin, dim. of duid, pipe].
eric eriach erick a blood-fine paid by a murderer in old Irish law.
fainne a ring-shaped badge worn to show suport for the Irish language
feen an informal word for a man
feis an ancient Irish assembly for the proclamation of laws etc > FEISEANNA.
fiorin a type of grass. [Irish fiorthan].
fleadh a festival of Irish traditional music, dancing, etc.
fraughan the whortleberry
galloglass gallowglass the irregular infantry of Ireland, and the Highlands of Scotland. [Ir. galloglach, from gall, foreign + oglach, soldier].
galore an abundnace. [Irish go, a prefix, + leor, sufficiency].
garda an Irish policeman > GARDAI.
garran garron a type of small horse.
gillaroo an Irish trout with a thickened muscular stomach. [Irish giolla ruadh, red lad].
gombeen usury; chiefly used attributively as in gombeen-man, a money-lender, usurer.
hooley a boisterous party.
hooligan a lout, named after a notorious Irish family.
jabers in the Irish oath be jabers, = Jesus.
jackeen a person from Dublin, esp. one with a parochial attitude.
kerry one of an Irish breed of cattle.
leprechaun a small supernatural creature.
limerick a form of humorous verse in a five-line jingle. [Said to be from a refrain formerly used, referring to Limerick in Ireland].
lough a lake.
louser a mean nasty person
machree (Anglo-Irish) an affectionate form of address, my dear.
maormor mormaor a Celtic nobleman.
mavourneen mavournin my dear one.
moryah an exclamation of annoyance, disbelief etc
musha an exclamation of surprise.
oanshagh a foolish woman or girl
ohone ochone an Irish interjection of lamentation.
ogam ogham a 6th C. Irish writing alphabet.
ogmic ogamic oghamic relating to OGAM, a 6th C. Irish writing alphabet.
ollav ollamh an Irish master poet.
ologoan to complain loudly without reason.
omadhaun a fool, idiot, simpleton. [Irish amadan].
patrick a 17C Irish halfpenny.
pisheog pishoge pishogue sorcery. [Ir. piseog].
planxty an Irish or Welsh melody for the harp, sometimes of a mournful character.
pollan a whitefish, plentiful in Irish loughs.
pooka in Irish folklore, a malevolent goblin.
poteen potteen potheen poitin illicitly distilled Irish whisky. [Ir. poitin, little pot].
praiseach a kind of oatmeal porridge. [Irish, from brassica, cabbage].
praty pratie (Irish coll.) potato.
pucan a traditional Connemara open sailing boat
rapparee a wild Irish plunderer, esp. one of the 17th century; -- so called from his carrying a half-pike, in Irish rapaire.
rawmaish wild dissolute talk
rath an Irish hill-fort.
scraw a thin sod or turf. [Ir. sgrath].
seannachie shanachie a traditional storyteller.
shagroon an early settler in New Zealand of other than British origin. [Irish seachran, wandering].
shamus a private detective
shandrydan an Irish two-wheeled cart; jocular, any worn-out antique vehicle.
shebean shebeen an illicit liquor shop; SHEBEEN can also be used as a verb: to keep in a shebeen.
shelta a secret jargon used by vagrants in Britain and Ireland. [Shelru, poss a perversion of OIr béulra language].
shillala shillelagh shillalah shillelah an Irish cudgel.
shinty an Irish game resembling hockey.
shoneen an Irishman who imitates the ways and manners of the English.
sidh sidhe fairy people
skanger a young working-class person who wears casual clothes
slainte an Irish drinking toast: your health. No plural.
sleeveen a crafty, smooth-talking person.
slieve a mountain
sliotar a ball used in hurling
slumgullion a watery meat stew.
sorehon an ancient Irish exaction of free accommodation by a lord of a tenant.
sorra sorrow, the devil.
spalpeen a scamp; a good-for-nothing fellow.
stalko (Anglo-Irish) a gentleman without fortune or occupation > STALKOES or STALKOS.
stelk an Irish dish of onions and mashed potatoes.
stim a very small amount
stocious stotious (Irish slang) drunk, intoxicated.
streel to trail, stream.
sugan a straw rope
swaddler a term of contempt for an Irish Methodist.
tanaiste in Irish politics, the vice-Taoiseach or deputy prime minister of the Republic of Ireland.
tanist a Celtic chief's heir elect. [Ir. tanaiste, heir].
tanistry the system of succession by a previously elected member of the family. [Ir. tanaiste, heir].
toiseach toisech toshach a Celtic nobleman.
trouse Irish close-fitting trews.
tuath a tribe, a people.
turlough a pond that dries up in summer.
uillean uilleann as in uillean pipes, a kind of bagpipes
voteen a devotee.
wisha an interjection expressing surprise. [Irish mhuis].
wojus of poor quality.