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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

Mc- en · X

Pronunciation

  • /mək/
  • /mɪk/
  • /mæk/ before an unstressed syllable

Etymology

Abbreviation of Mac-, from Irish and Scottish Gaelic mac (“son”).

Meanings

  1. (morpheme) A patronymic used to form common Irish and Scottish names, similar to the English -son.
  2. (derogatory, morpheme, often) Used in combination with a non-name descriptive word to form mock names.
    • "Nyah-nyah!" they all shouted. "Your name's not McCloy! You're Gerald McBoing Boing, the noise-making boy!' 1950 Gerald McBoing Boing (cartoon short)
    • Mc- + shit → McShit
    • Mc- + stupid → McStupid
    • I bet Thomas McSmart-arse makes some dumb comment about my nose-ring. 2006, Brigid Lowry, Guitar Highway Rose, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 29:
    • Alternatively, one may make the example a bit sharper by discussing a being, call him 'McStupid', that always knows who he is, but knows nothing else. 2005, Daniel J. Hill, Divinity and Maximal Greatness, Routledge, →ISBN, page 44:
    • His body is lean. His feet aren't clean. His mouth is real mean When he's on the scene, But all the time you hear the women really yellin' his name: Filthy McNasty. 1968 Eddie Jefferson "Filthy McNasty" (lyrics for a 1961 instrumental of the same name by Horace Silver)
    • And when she's not at the Law Review office, she's out with her goddamn Law Review friends. Goddamn Art McAsshole and goddamn Lisa Von- Bitchypants and the worst — the very worst — is that goddamn Charlotte Sidwell. 2007, Martha Kimes, Ivy Briefs: True Tales of a Neurotic Law Student, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 173:
  3. (morpheme) Used to form the name of McDonald's products.
    • Mc- + griddle → McGriddle
    • Mc- + muffin → McMuffin
    • Mc- + café → McCafé
    • Mc- + rib → McRib
  4. (broadly, derogatory, morpheme) Indicating a lack of depth or worth, by association with McDonald's.
    • Two years of hard work wiped out by one of your two-minute McSessions! 1995 Christopher Lloyd, Linda Morris & Vic Rauseo, "Dark Victory", Frasier, Season 2, Episode 24 (aired 23rd May 1995), spoken by Niles Crane (played by David Hyde Pierce)
    • Sesame Street is "McEducation." Like things served by the golden arches, Sesame Street has at once elevated the dregs and lowered the quality to mediocrity 1983 Wallace Marx, "It's Not How Long You Make It," New York Magazine, Vol. 16, No. 50 (19 Dec 1983), p11
    • Mc- + church → McChurch
    • Mc- + mansion → McMansion
    • Mc- + car → McCar
    • Some of the techniques have been imported from the United States, but Britain's tight political and media village is now the European market leader in this kind of McPolitics. 2003, Anthony Wright, British politics: a very short introduction, Oxford University Press, page 35:
    • Mc- + job → McJob
    • Mc- + dojo → McDojo
  5. (broadly, derogatory, humorous, morpheme) Indicating an increase in availability or an increase in consumerism causing items to be more readily available.
    • Mc- + nuke → McNuke

Coordinates

i-

Relateds

Mag- · Mac- · McWord

Translations (2)

yue 麥 /麦 (Irish and Scottish patronymic) · cmn 麥 /麦 (Irish and Scottish patronymic)