craic
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /kɹæk/
homophone: crack
rhymes: -æk
Etymology: A variant of crack (“conviviality, fun; good company; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humorous storytelling; mischief”) (Ireland, Northern Ireland (Ulster)), from Scots crack (“free and easy conversation; gossip, talk”), possibly from Middle English crak (“bursting or splitting sound, crash”), from craken (“to make a bursting or splitting sound, crack”), from Old English cracian (“to make a bursting or splitting sound, crack; to resound”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną (“to crack or crackle; to shriek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to cry hoarsely”). Doublet of crack (“thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material”). The spelling craic is partly borrowed:
* from Irish craic, probably from English crack (“conviviality, fun; etc.”) (Ireland, Northern Ireland (Ulster)) (see above); and
* (especially in Scotland) from Scottish Gaelic craic, crac, either from Irish craic or Scots crack (see above).
Senses: examples: text: ‘It is a great atmosphere, isn’t it?’ Leon was enthusiastic, not at all cryptic or withdrawn, wholeheartedly enjoying the ‘craic’, as he called it, slapping his hand on the table in time to the bodhrán rhythm from the group singing itself hoarse and unharmonious on the stage.
ref: 1991, Mary Leland, chapter 10, in Approaching Priests, London: Sinclair-Stevenson, →ISBN, page 172:
text: "The craic" is how the Irish celebrate life – with music, with laughter, with joy, with old friends (and new friends just waiting to be made). […] Be careful. "The craic" is mighty!
ref: 1995 September 9, “Dara: Ireland’s Most Successful Record Label [advertisement]”, in Timothy White, editor, Billboard: The International Newsweekly of Music, Video and Home Entertainment, volume 107, number 36, New York, N.Y.: BPI Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 84:
text: Most Irish people, you see, when asked to name their preferred aspect of living in Ireland, will instance "the crack". "The crack", which is sometimes annoyingly conveyed in the Irish-language spelling "craic", is a quintessentially Irish indicator of what in other cultures translates roughly as "fun" – except that the crack is much more than fun.
ref: [2004 November 18, John Waters, “What's the crack?”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Jan 2022:
text: [Brendan] Kennelly has been sober for 21 years, but couldn't resist popping into some of the city's myriad Irish pubs. He nursed bottled water and listened to the accents, the stories, the craic.
ref: 2007 November 19, Kevin Cullen, “His peace in poetry”, in The Boston Globe, Boston, Mass.: The Globe Newspaper Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Mar 2025:
text: "Sure, it will be a bit of craic," said Beth, "when's the last time a fortune teller came anywhere near here?"
ref: 2015, Ben Ritchie, “A Bit of Craic”, in Phil Murphy, editor, Original Writing from Ireland’s Own: An Anthology of the Best Stories from the Annual Writing Competitions Run by Ireland’s Premier Family Magazine, 2015 edition, Dublin: Original Writing, →ISBN, “Highly Commended” section, page 161:
glosses: Often preceded by the: amusement, fun, especially through enjoyable company; also, pleasant conversation.
Derived terms: craic killer
for the craic
what's the craic
Related terms: bonhomie
conviviality