Etymology

clurichaun

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Today it means: A mischievous, potentially malicious fairy, akin to the leprechaun, that greatly loves drinking and tends to haunt breweries, pubs and wine cellars. Full definition →

Irish clutharachán
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The story

  1. Irish · derived from-achán“diminutive suffix”
  2. Irish · derived fromcluthar“sheltered, cosy; secretive”
  3. Irish · derived fromclutharachán
  4. English todayclurichaun

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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.