The Irish Language Grimoire — Cursing
Every Irish reference book that pretends not to know any swear words is lying. Irish has one of the richest cursing traditions in Europe. The bean feasa, the wise woman of the village, could ruin your day with a quatrain. Bardic satire was a legal and political weapon serious enough that medieval Irish law tracked it. Modern Irish-English carries that inheritance forward, in milder form, with the fecks and the eejits.
What follows is a small selection. Mostly soft. A few sharper ones. None of them are slurs targeting protected groups. The Irish curse tradition reaches for the devil, the cat, the wet weather, your in-laws, and your own foolishness, in roughly that order. Use what you say with your grandmother in mind.
Mild oaths and exclamations
| Irish | How to say it | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Ó mo dhia! | oh muh YEE-uh | Oh my god (mild) |
| In ainm Dé! | in ANN-im JAY | In the name of God! (exclamation, not blasphemy) |
| Cén diabhal? | kayn JEE-uh-wul | What the devil? |
| A Mhuire is trua! | uh WIR-uh iss TROO-uh | Mary, it’s a sorrow! (means “oh dear”) |
| Mo léan! | muh LAYN | Woe is me! |
| Ochón! | UH-khohn | Alas! (the keening cry, sometimes playful now) |
The classic insults, affectionate to sharp
| Irish | How to say it | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| amadán | AHM-uh-dawn | fool (masculine), the all-purpose Irish insult, can be affectionate |
| óinseach | OHN-shukh | fool (feminine), same idea, gendered |
| pleidhce | PLY-keh | eejit, soft fool, usually affectionate |
| bodach | BUD-ukh | churl, lout, ignoramus, properly insulting |
| liúdramán | LYOOD-ruh-mawn | idle layabout, wastrel |
The famous and the cheeky
| Irish or Hiberno-English | How to say it | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Póg mo thóin | POHG muh HOH-in | Kiss my arse, the most famous Irish phrase in the world |
| feck | FEK | the cheerful Irish softening of the harder F-word |
| eejit | EE-jit | idiot, Hiberno-English, affectionate when said about yourself |
| gobshite | GUB-shyt | loud-mouthed fool, a Dublin specialty |
| arseways | ARS-wayz | backwards, wrong, “the whole thing went arseways” |
| langer | LANG-er | fool, specifically Cork dialect, regional badge |
The literary curse tradition
This is where Irish gets properly dramatic. The structure is almost always a wish (go plus a verb plus the bad thing), and it is more poetry than threat.
| Irish | What it means |
|---|---|
| Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat. | May the cat eat you, and may the devil eat the cat. |
| Go n-imí an diabhal leat. | May the devil go with you. |
| Imeacht gan teacht ort. | Going-without-coming on you. (May you leave and never return.) |
| Marbhfháisc ort. | A dead-shroud on you. The hardest curse in the cupboard. |
| Nár laga Dia thú. | May God not weaken you. (A blessing, included to remind you the same grammar produces both.) |
The opposite of all this is also Irish. Sláinte!, meaning health, the toast that closes every gathering. Go n-éirí an bóthar leat, may the road rise with you. Beannachtaí na Féile ort, blessings of the season on you. The same rich grammar that produces “may the cat eat you” produces these. The language carries both. So does the country.