Scotch-Irish

[skoch-ahy-rish]

noun

1. (used with a plural verb),  the descendants of the Lowland Scots who were settled in Ulster in the 17th century.

adjective

1. of or relating to the Scotch-Irish.

2. of mixed Scottish and Irish descent.

Confusables Note

See Scotch.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Scotch-Irish¹

First recorded in 1735–45

Example Sentences

The terms Scots-Irish, Scotch-Irish and Ulster-Scots relate to people who left Scotland, settled as part of the Ulster plantation and then moved on to North America.

From BBC

It starts with both men’s early lives, the forces that shaped them and the mindbogglingly serendipitous paths that brought the California-born Mexican American Marin together with the Edmonton-born Chong, the son of Chinese and Scotch-Irish parents, in a Vancouver nightclub called Shanghai Junk in 1968.

From Los Angeles Times

However, it was lower for respondents with ancestry in several Caribbean nations as well as those with Azerbaijani, British, Celtic, French Canadian, Guyanese, Pennsylvania German, Romani and Scotch-Irish backgrounds.

From Seattle Times

Little information was available about her life, but Mr. Smith said she was White, with Scotch-Irish and Cherokee ancestry.

From Washington Post

Mr. McCullough was himself a natural on television, a self-possessed, blue-eyed, hale fellow of Scotch-Irish descent with a voice and delivery — authoritative if a bit nasal — that kept him in demand for off-camera work as well.

From New York Times