Irish Slang For Friend (5 Examples!)

The Irish are internationally renowned for their friendly nature.

They are extremely welcoming people and love nothing more than to make visitors in their country feel welcome.

Naturally, this joviality extends to their own people, too, and so the Irish over the years have come up with a great many slang terms for friend.

Today, we’re going to look at some of the most important and widely used of these terms.

Let’s get started.

In This Article

Mate

Mate may not be exclusive to Ireland, but no list of slang terms for friend in Irish would be complete without it.

It’s the most universal and widely used term for a friend, understood by all, and can be used to just about any degree of familiarity.

From strangers in the street to your closest friends, “mate” works for all of them.

You might address a stranger as “mate,” when thanking them for something, for instance.

Naturally, this term has a long and storied history. It entered the English language, as best we can tell, sometime in the 14^th Century.

Here, it was borrowed from the German ge-mate, which meant to share a table together. It was all based around eating together.

It was then passed down the centuries until it eventually became the most common Irish-English word for friend.

It’s very difficult to say with any precision at what stage the Irish began using the word mate as commonly as they do today.

Naturally, though, it would have come sometime after the Irish language was outlawed by the English in the 16^th Century.

It probably came into widespread use in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Mucker

Mucker is another great one in the Irish slang for friend, and certainly a lot more unique to Ireland.

It is also used in parts of Britain, though.

It’s another really old one that, while in less common use today, is still more or less universally understood if not used.

“I’m going out to meet me old mucker,” for example. “Me old” was usually the way use the term mucker.

Again, though, it can also be used in less familiar settings—“Thanks, me old mucker” for example would be a perfectly valid thing to say to, say, a bartender.

Originally, though, the term didn’t really have this sense at all. This is another one that originates in German, where mucker means someone who is very sulky or moody.

Eventually, “mucker” came to be a slang term for various kinds of manual laborer, such as those who remove “muck”—that is, debris, rubbish, etc.

It was also used among soldiers in the First World War, where it became a synonym for comrade.

So, it was sometime after this that it took on its modern, simpler meaning of “good friend”.

Segocia

Though the English Crown attempted to subdue the Irish language entirely, they never succeeded.

It still survives and is still spoken in large parts of the country today, and indeed much of its slang has remained in Irish English. “Segocia” or “segotia” is a great example of this.

This is an Irish word that originally meant a good friend.

Similarly to our previous entry, this is most commonly used as part of a phrase, “me oul segocia” or “my old segocia”.

So, though it is plainly a very old term originating far back in the history of the Irish language, it was only as a part of a conscious revival of the language that took place in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries that the word was brought back into use.

Our earliest written example of the term comes from a newspaper article from 1917.

So, though it is hardly the most commonly used term today, you’re very likely to be understood by most Irish people using this phrase.

Pal

Another really common and ubiquitous term in any English slang but which has taken on its own unique Irish character, pal.

This one is just another really useful term to have under your belt, which is both uniquely Irish and yet will not sound at all strange on the lips of a non-Irish person.

“He’s still my pal after all,” for example.

This one is used across Ireland and Britain, as well as in parts of the US.

Interestingly, this term actually has its origin in the Romani language.

There the term phral means brother, which itself is ultimately from Sanskrit.

By the late 17^th Century, it had been adopted by English speakers to mean brother or more simply friend.

Then, it shortly after passed on to Ireland.

Acushla

Finally, we have the most intimate term on this list, but one which can absolutely still be used for friends.

Acushla is another of our words that actually has its roots in the Irish Gaelic language.

As I say, it’s a bit more familiar, the kind of thing you would use with your best friend or someone you’re very close with. “I think it’s time for bed acushla,” for example.

It comes from the Gaelic cuisle, which means darling.

The modern acushla also has the sense of “pulse” or “vein,” as if someone is so close to you they become an important part of you.

The Irish, no doubt, have plenty of endearing ways to refer to their friends, then.

From the simple and informal “mate,” which you can use in just about any situation, to the less well-known and perhaps far more intimate phrases such as segotia or acushla.

In any case, you’ve got an appropriate term for all occasions, so look no further than our list.

More in Irish Slang

Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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