Happy Halloween in Irish is Oíche Shamhna shona duit (EE-ha HOW-na HUN-a ditch) to one person, or Oíche Shamhna shona daoibh (EE-ha HOW-na HUN-a DEEV) to a group. Oíche Shamhna means “Samhain night”, and Samhain (SOW-in) is also the Irish word for November. The dictionary’s trick or treat is bob nó bia. Below are 35 Halloween words in Irish with pronunciations.
The Irish name for Halloween goes back a long way. Samhain turns up in medieval Irish texts, centuries before anyone in English was saying “Hallowe’en”.
So when you wish someone a happy Halloween in Irish, you’re using the older name. Here’s how to say it, what it means and what to write in a card.
How to say Happy Halloween in Irish
The greeting has two versions, and the only difference is how many people you’re talking to.
To one person: Oíche Shamhna shona duit
Say it roughly EE-ha HOW-na HUN-a ditch. Duit means “to you”, and it sounds like the English word ditch. Use it for a friend, a card to your mother, or a text to one person.
To more than one person: Oíche Shamhna shona daoibh
Say it EE-ha HOW-na HUN-a DEEV. Daoibh is “to you all”, and it’s one syllable. This is the one for a family card, a classroom or a Facebook post.
How to reply
If someone wishes you a happy Halloween, the easy answer is Oíche Shamhna shona duit féin (fayn), meaning “and to yourself”. It’s the same as the Christmas reply on my page of Irish Christmas blessings. There I used dhuit fhéin, the form you’ll hear in Connacht and Ulster. Duit féin is the standard spelling.
Why “shona” and not “sona”?
Sona is the Irish word for happy in greetings, and it comes after the noun, as in Nollaig Shona for Happy Christmas. Oíche (night) is a feminine noun, so the adjective after it softens to shona. You’ll see “Oíche Shamhna sona” online, but it’s a small grammar slip.
Compare Lá breithe sona duit, Happy Birthday. Lá is a masculine noun, so sona stays as it is.
How to pronounce Oíche Shamhna and Samhain
Irish has three main dialects: Munster in the south, Connacht in the west and Ulster in the north. The greeting sounds a little different in each. I’m a Cork man, so the pronunciations on this page lean Munster, the Irish of Cork and Kerry.
Munster (Cork, Kerry, Waterford)
Oíche is EE-ha, with a soft breathy h. Samhain is SOW-in, where “sow” rhymes with cow, not with mow. In Kerry Irish, duit has a rounder vowel, closer to “dutch”.
Connacht (Galway, Mayo)
Oíche is more like EE-hya. Samhain can shrink to one syllable, SOWN, or come out as SAV-in.
Ulster (Donegal)
Oíche is EE-hya or EE-ha. Samhain is roughly SOW-wen. Daoibh stays DEEV.
These come from the classic dialect studies of Kerry, Aran, Connemara and Donegal speech. To hear most common words, search teanglann.ie and click the speaker icons for each dialect.
Halloween in Irish: what Oíche Shamhna and Samhain mean
Oíche Shamhna means “the night of Samhain”, or Samhain Eve. It’s 31 October, the night before the festival itself.
The old festival of Samhain fell on 1 November. In modern Irish, Samhain is simply the word for November. Ó Dónaill’s dictionary lists Lá Samhna (law SOW-na) as 1 November, All Hallows, and mí na Samhna (mee na SOW-na) as the month of November.
Why the S sounds like an H
Shamhna is the possessive form of Samhain. After the feminine word oíche, the S takes an h and is said as an h sound, so you get HOW-na.
Does Samhain mean “summer’s end”?
You’ll read that everywhere. Medieval Irish glossaries did explain it as sam (summer) plus fuin (end), according to the Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language (eDIL).
Modern linguists are less sure. Whitley Stokes, Xavier Delamarre and Ranko Matasović link it to an old Celtic word meaning “assembly”. The Gaulish Coligny calendar has a month called SAMONI, with no “end” in it. The debate isn’t settled.
What the old Irish sources don’t show is a Celtic god called Samhain. That idea came much later. For the story of the festival itself, read how the Irish invented Halloween.
What is trick or treat in Irish?
There isn’t one traditional phrase, because Irish children didn’t traditionally trick or treat. Several versions circulate today.
Bob nó bia
This is the one in focloir.ie, the official English-Irish dictionary from Foras na Gaeilge. Say it bob no BEE-a. Bob is a trick or prank, and bia is food.
The o is short, as an Irish person says the name Bob, not the long American “Bahb”. To trick or treat is bob nó bia a imirt, and trick or treating is ag imirt bob nó bia.
Bob nó breab
The Irish-language school Gaelchultúr teaches this one, and focloir.ie lists it too, under trick-or-treater (páiste bob nó breab). Ó Dónaill defines breab as a bribe. So this version is, quite literally, “a trick or a bribe”, which is probably the more accurate description.
Cleas nó cóir
You’ll find this on IrishCentral’s Halloween word list. Cleas does mean trick. Cóir means fair play, your due or provision, so the phrase is closer to “a trick or your due”. It isn’t the dictionary form.
What Irish children said instead
Before “trick or treat” reached Irish doors, the usual cry was “Help the Halloween party!” The Irish Times called it the most popular phrase to holler. In Carlow and some other inland towns, “Penny for the Pookie” was also favoured. The hope was apples, nuts or a few coins. No threats involved.
Halloween in Scottish Gaelic
If your roots are in the Highlands or islands, Halloween is Oidhche Shamhna in Scottish Gaelic, according to the LearnGaelic dictionary. November is an t-Samhain. Say it roughly UH-eech-a HOW-na, but check the LearnGaelic audio.
That spelling isn’t only Scottish. Irish used “Oidhche” too until the spelling reforms of the mid-20th century. Stories collected from Irish schoolchildren in the 1930s, now on dúchas.ie, still write Oidhche Shamhna.
I haven’t found a Scottish Gaelic “Happy Halloween” greeting in a dictionary, so I won’t guess at one. Scotland’s other Halloween favourite is the fairy cat, the Cat Sìth.
35 Halloween words in Irish
Here are 35 Halloween words in Irish, all checked on focloir.ie or teanglann.ie. The pronunciations are rough guides. Munster speakers often put the stress on the long vowel later in the word, so puimcín is pim-KEEN in Cork and PIM-keen in Galway.
| Irish | Say it | English |
|---|---|---|
| taibhse | TIVE-sha | ghost |
| sprid | spridge | ghost, spirit |
| cailleach | KAL-yukh | witch (also an old woman) |
| scuab caillí | SKOO-ub KAL-ee | witch’s broomstick |
| sióg | SHEE-ohg | fairy |
| lios / ráth | liss / raw | fairy fort, ring-fort |
| bean sí | ban SHEE | banshee (literally “fairy woman”) |
| púca | POO-ka | pooka, hobgoblin (not a ghost) |
| puimcín | pim-KEEN | pumpkin |
| tornapa | TUR-na-pa | turnip (in Ireland usually a swede, US rutabaga) |
| Seán na gealaí | shawn na GYAL-ee | will-o’-the-wisp (the dictionaries’ word for jack-o’-lantern; literally “Seán of the moon”) |
| tine chnámh | CHIN-eh KNAWV (KRAW in Connacht and Ulster) | bonfire (literally “fire of bones”) |
| aghaidh fidil | EYE FID-il | mask |
| culaith Oíche Shamhna | KUL-ih EE-ha HOW-na | Halloween costume |
| culaith bhréige | KUL-ih VRAY-geh | fancy dress (US: costume) |
| milseáin | MIL-shawn | sweets (US: candy) |
| ialtóg | EE-al-tohg | bat |
| sciathán leathair | SHKEE-a-hawn LYA-hir | bat (literally “leather wing”) |
| damhán alla | dow-AWN AL-a | spider |
| cat dubh | kat DUV | black cat |
| cnámharlach | KNAW-var-lukh | skeleton |
| uaigh | OO-ig | grave |
| reilig | REL-ig | graveyard |
| cónra | KOHN-ra | coffin |
| coinneal | KIN-yal | candle |
| bairín breac | BAR-een BRAK | barmbrack, the Halloween fruit loaf (literally “speckled loaf”) |
| úll | ool | apple |
| cnó | k-NOH (k-ROH in Connacht and Ulster) | nut |
| fáinne | FAWN-ya | ring (the one hidden in the brack) |
| bob nó bia | bob no BEE-a | trick or treat (a modern coinage) |
| vaimpír | VAM-peer | vampire |
| arracht | AR-ukht | monster |
| coire | KIR-eh | cauldron |
| teach a bhfuil taibhsí ann | chakh a WILL TIVE-shee oun | haunted house (literally “a house with ghosts in it”) |
| scanrúil | SKAN-rool | scary, frightening |
A few words worth a second look
Púca is not the Irish for ghost, whatever some word lists say. Ó Dónaill defines it as a hobgoblin or pooka, a shape-shifter. For a ghost, use taibhse or sprid.
Bean sí gives English the word banshee. Sí is the fairy mound, the same word hiding in the Cat Sìth. You can read more about the banshee here.
Seán na gealaí is the dictionaries’ word for jack-o’-lantern. But it means the older jack-o’-lantern, the will-o’-the-wisp, a ghostly light over bogs. There’s no dictionary word for a carved pumpkin, so I won’t make one up.
Halloween card messages in Irish
The first two are the standard greetings. The rest are simple sentences built from dictionary-checked words, not traditional sayings.
Oíche Shamhna shona duit!
Happy Halloween to you!
Oíche Shamhna shona daoibh go léir!
Happy Halloween to you all! Go léir (guh LAYR) means “all”, so it suits a family card.
Oíche Shamhna scanrúil duit!
A scary Halloween to you! Good for a child who likes a fright.
Bain sult as Oíche Shamhna!
Enjoy Halloween! Bain sult as (bwin SULT as) is the everyday Irish for “enjoy”.
Go bhfaighe tú an fáinne sa bhairín breac!
May you find the ring in the barmbrack! Say it guh WY-heh too un FAWN-ya sa WAR-een BRAK. Tradition says whoever finds the ring will be the next to marry, so choose your recipient carefully.
Bí cúramach, tá taibhsí amuigh anocht!
Be careful, there are ghosts out tonight! A good one for the bottom of a party invitation.
Happy Halloween in Irish FAQ
How do you say Happy Halloween in Irish Gaelic?
Say Oíche Shamhna shona duit (EE-ha HOW-na HUN-a ditch) to one person. For a group, say Oíche Shamhna shona daoibh (EE-ha HOW-na HUN-a DEEV).
What does Oíche Shamhna mean?
Oíche Shamhna means “the night of Samhain”, or November Eve. It’s the Irish name for Halloween, 31 October. Ó Dónaill’s dictionary gives it simply as Hallowe’en.
How do you pronounce Samhain?
Roughly SOW-in, with “sow” rhyming with cow. In Connacht it can be one syllable, SOWN. The common English reading, SAM-hane, isn’t how Irish speakers say it.
Is Samhain the Irish word for November?
Yes. Samhain is November, mí na Samhna is the month of November and Lá Samhna is 1 November.
What is trick or treat in Irish?
The focloir.ie dictionary gives bob nó bia, meaning “trick or food”. You’ll also hear bob nó breab and cleas nó cóir. None of them is an old traditional phrase.
What is the Irish word for ghost?
Taibhse (TIVE-sha) is the usual word, and sprid also works. Púca is a different creature altogether, a shape-shifting hobgoblin.
More Irish Halloween reading
- How the Irish Invented Halloween: Samhain, Turnip Lanterns and Barmbrack
- Irish Barmbrack Recipe (With the Ring)
- Irish Halloween Jokes
- The Dullahan: Ireland’s Headless Horseman
- Cat Sìth: The Fairy Cat of Scottish and Irish Folklore
- The Púca: Ireland’s Shape-Shifting Hobgoblin
- 10 Haunted Places Around Ireland That You Have To Visit
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