Meanings
- Northern IrelandScotlandderogatorynot comparableoffensiveOf or relating to a Roman Catholic, chiefly one of Irish descent or ethnicity.
- Northern IrelandScotlandderogatorynot comparableoffensiveOf or relating to the Scottish association football club Celtic Football Club.
plural Fenians
- Irelandhistoricalin pluralA member of a roving band of hunter-warriors in ancient Ireland, especially the band led by the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill in Irish mythology; (generally) a person of ancient Ireland.
Do you compare your psalms / To the tales of the bare-arm'd Fenians?
1816, [Walter Scott], chapter I, in The Antiquary. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 26 - IrelandUKalsohistoricalA member of an organization opposing British rule in Ireland, especially the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood which were active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; (generally) an Irish nationalist or republican.
- Northern IrelandScotlandderogatoryoffensiveA Roman Catholic person, chiefly one of Irish descent or ethnicity.
It was sound advice for anyone visiting Northern Ireland in 1999 and remains so today: do not refer to Protestants as "Prods", or to Catholics as "Fenians" or "Taigs", and whatever you do don't refer to your visit as "being out here".
[2023 August 23, Rory Carroll, “Files reveal terms ministers were warned not to use in Northern Ireland”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 May 2025
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA member of an organization opposing British rule in Ireland, especially the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood which were active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; (generally) an Irish nationalist or republican.
nounA Roman Catholic person, chiefly one of Irish descent or ethnicity.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*weyh₁-“to chase, pursue”
- Old Irishfían
- Irishfian
- Proto-Indo-European*weǵʰ-“to bring; to transport”
- Old IrishFéni“originally the legendary people who inhabited Ireland; later the Irish people generally, especially those belonging to the social class of free citizens”
- EnglishFenian
Partly from both of the following: * from Old Irish Féni (“originally the legendary people who inhabited Ireland; later the Irish people generally, especially those belonging to the social class of free citizens”, plural); further etymology uncertain, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to bring; to transport”) (whence wagon and wain; referring to the use of chariots); and * from Irish fian, fiann (“roving band of (legendary) warrior-hunters”) (generally a view taken by English-speaking scholars, possibly due to the similarity between Old Irish Féni and Irish féine, féinne, the genitive singular forms of fian and fiann), from Old Irish fían, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- (“to chase, pursue”); + English -ian (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘from; related to’; and forming nouns with the sense ‘one from or related to’). The adjective is attested slightly earlier than the noun.
More words from Old Irish, Proto-Indo-European, Irish
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan fenià, fenià
- feniàof or relating to organizations opposing British rule in Ireland
- feniàmember of an organization opposing British rule in Ireland, especially the Fenian Brotherhood or Irish Republican Brotherhood
- fenianamember of an organization opposing British rule in Ireland, especially the Fenian Brotherhood or Irish Republican Brotherhood
Finnish feeniläinen, feeniläinen
- feeniläinenof or relating to roving bands of hunter-warriors in ancient Ireland
- feeniläinenof or relating to the people of ancient Ireland
- feeniläinenof or relating to organizations opposing British rule in Ireland
- Celticiin liittyväof or relating to the Scottish association football club Celtic Football Club
- feeniläinenmember of a roving band of hunter-warriors in ancient Ireland
- feeniläinenperson of ancient Ireland
- feeniläinenmember of an organization opposing British rule in Ireland, especially the Fenian Brotherhood or Irish Republican Brotherhood
- feeniläinenIrish nationalist or republican
- Celticin kannattajasupporter of the Scottish association football club Celtic Football Club
French fenian, Fenian
- fenianmember of an organization opposing British rule in Ireland, especially the Fenian Brotherhood or Irish Republican Brotherhood
- Fenianmember of an organization opposing British rule in Ireland, especially the Fenian Brotherhood or Irish Republican Brotherhood
Irish Fínín, Fínín
- Fínínmember of an organization opposing British rule in Ireland, especially the Fenian Brotherhood or Irish Republican Brotherhood
- FínínIrish nationalist or republican
Romanian fenian
- fenianmember of an organization opposing British rule in Ireland, especially the Fenian Brotherhood or Irish Republican Brotherhood
Spanish feniano, feniana
- fenianomember of an organization opposing British rule in Ireland, especially the Fenian Brotherhood or Irish Republican Brotherhood
- fenianamember of an organization opposing British rule in Ireland, especially the Fenian Brotherhood or Irish Republican Brotherhood
Welsh Ffeniad
- Ffeniadmember of an organization opposing British rule in Ireland, especially the Fenian Brotherhood or Irish Republican Brotherhood
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with Fenian
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Fenian. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Fenian
“Fenian.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Fenian. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Fenian,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Fenian.
Source: Fenian on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.