"iron" + "irony"

iron

"bloody!"

• Middle English iren ("iron")
  • Old English īsern ("iron")
    • Proto-West Germanic *īsarn ("iron")
      • Proto-Germanic *īsarną ("iron")
        • Proto-Celtic *īsarnom ("iron")
          • [perhaps] PIE *h₁ēsh₂r̥no- ("bloody")?
            • PIE *h₁ēsh₂r̥ ("blood")?

irony

"one who says less than they think"

• Middle French ironie
  • Latin īrōnīa
    • Greek eirōneia εἰρωνείᾱ ("irony")
    • Greek eirōn εἴρων ("one who says less than they think")
      • [perhaps] Ancient Greek eirō εἴρω ("I speak", "I join", "I tie")?
      • [or] Ancient Greek éromai ἔρομαι ("I ask")?
        • [then perhaps] PIE *h₁row-neh₂ ("to ask")

…so the two words stem from unalike sounds slowly becoming almost the same!