Standard Lemma guide

clurichaun

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A mischievous, potentially malicious fairy, akin to the leprechaun, that greatly loves drinking and tends to haunt breweries, pubs and wine cellars.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Irish

Topics: arts, folklore, history, human-sciences, literature, media, publishing, sciences

Examples

  • 2016, Keith B. Darrell, Flashbacks: Fangs & Fur, Book 1, Amber Book Company, unnumbered page, "Clurichauns are Dark Fae cousins of leprechauns," Aurae explained. "Unlike their Seelie Court cousins, the clurichauns drink to excess and are seldom sober. But despite always being drunk, the clurichauns are impeccably groomed and well-dressed... although they can be a bit surly."

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Irish clutharachán, from Irish cluthar (“sheltered, cosy; secretive”) + Irish -achán (“diminutive suffix”) (compare same suffix in Irish leipreachán and lucharachán (“leprechaun”)). William Butler Yeats, citing folklorist Nicholas O'Kearney, derives it from clobhair-ceann, from clobhair (“hunched, bent”) + ceann (“head”), but this lacks semantic plausibility.