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New Year Irish Phrases
An Bhliain Nua
New Year is called "An Bhliain Nua" in Irish. The phrase to know first is "Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit!" (Happy New Year! (to one person)).
The usual Irish New Year wish is Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit, "a prosperous new year to you". Use daoibh instead of duit for more than one person. Here are the greetings, a reply, and the words for the turn of the year.
Greetings
Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit!
Happy New Year! (to one person)
The usual wish. Literally "a prosperous new year to you".
Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh!
Happy New Year! (to more than one person)
Use daoibh for a family, a group or a card with several names.
Bliain Úr Mhaith!
Happy New Year!
A second greeting the dictionary gives. Úr means "new" or "fresh".
Replies
Gurab amhlaidh duit!
The same to you!
The standard reply to a New Year wish.
For cards and messages
Beannachtaí na Bliana Nua
New Year's greetings
A general wish for cards and messages.
Useful words
san athbhliain
in the new year
For plans and wishes for the coming year.
go hathbhliain
until next year
Heard at the end of the year, about things that wait until January.
Lá Caille
New Year's Day
An older name for 1 January. Caille is the genitive of caileann, "the calends".
an Bhliain Nua
the New Year
Also an Bhliain Úr or an Athbhliain.
The history of An Bhliain Nua
The greeting is built from athbhliain, "the coming year", and faoi mhaise, "flourishing". The dictionary also records two older names for New Year's Day: Lá Caille, "day of the calends", and Lá Nollag Beag, "little Christmas Day", a name it shared with the Epiphany on 6 January.
Common questions
How do you say Happy New Year in Irish?
Say Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit to one person and Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh to more than one.
New Year in the other Celtic languages
Further reading
Go beyond the phrases
blas. teaches Irish with spaced repetition, vocabulary, mutations, grammar, reading, and conversation. Not just for New Year, but for life. Free to start.
Start learning IrishIrish phrases for the year ahead
Irish phrases for everyday occasions
Sources
Every phrase and fact on this page was checked against the sources below. Last checked 2026-10-20.
- Ó Dónaill, Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla (teanglann.ie, Foras na Gaeilge)
- Ó Dónaill, Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla (teanglann.ie, Foras na Gaeilge)
- Ó Dónaill, Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla (teanglann.ie, Foras na Gaeilge)
- Ó Dónaill, Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla (teanglann.ie, Foras na Gaeilge)
- New English–Irish Dictionary (focloir.ie, Foras na Gaeilge)
- blas. course data
- Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org
- Ó Dónaill, Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla (teanglann.ie, Foras na Gaeilge)
- New English–Irish Dictionary (focloir.ie, Foras na Gaeilge)
Credit: Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.