craic

A variant of crack (“conviviality, fun; good company; good conversation, chat, gossip, or humorous storytelling; mischief”) (Ireland, Northern Ireland (Ulster)), from Scots crack (“free and easy conversation; gossip, talk”), possibly from Middle English crak (“bursting or splitting sound, crash”), from craken (“to make a bursting or splitting sound, crack”), from Old English cracian (“to make a bursting or splitting sound, crack; to resound”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną (“to crack or crackle; to shriek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- (“to cry hoarsely”). Doublet of crack (“thin and usually jagged space opened in a previously solid material”). The spelling craic is partly borrowed:
* from Irish craic, probably from English crack (“conviviality, fun; etc.”) (Ireland, Northern Ireland (Ulster)) (see above); and
* (especially in Scotland) from Scottish Gaelic craic, crac, either from Irish craic or Scots crack (see above).