leprechaun

• lepracaun

From Irish leipreachán, luprachán, from Middle Irish luchrupán, from Old Irish luchorpán. See also Irish lucharachán.

The word's further etymology is disputed; it is traditionally explained as a compound containing lú (“small”, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ-) +‎ corp (“body”, which is from Latin corpus).^[1] However, an alternative suggestion is that it is a derivative of Latin Lupercī (“priests of Lupercus”), who were misinterpreted as an antediluvian species by medieval Irish scholars.^[2]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛpɹəkɔːn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛpɹəˌkɔn/, /ˈlɛpɹəˌkɑn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

leprechaun (plural leprechauns)

1. (Irish folklore) One of a race of elves that can reveal hidden treasure to those who catch them.
   • 1888, William Allingham, “The Lepracaun; or Fairy Shoemaker”, in William Butler Yeats, editor, Irish Fairy and Folk Tales, pages 86–87:

     Do you not catch the tiny clamour, / Busy click of an elfin hammer, / Voice of the leprechaun singing shrill, / As he merrily plies his trade?

• → German: Leprechaun
• → Italian: leprecauno, leprechaun (unadapted), leprecano, lepricauno
• → Japanese: レプラコーン (repurakōn)
• → Korean: 레프러콘 (repeureokon)
• → Portuguese: leprechaun
• → Russian: лепреко́н (leprekón)
• → Spanish: leprechaun

• leprechaun on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Unadapted borrowing from English leprechaun, from Irish leipreachán.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛ.pre.kon/, /ˈlɛ.pri.kon/
• Rhymes: -ɛprekon, -ɛprikon

leprechaun m (invariable)

1. alternative form of leprecauno

Unadapted borrowing from English leprechaun, from Irish leipreachán.

leprechaun m (plural leprechauns)

1. (Irish folklore) leprechaun

   Synonym: duende irlandês

Unadapted borrowing from English leprechaun, from Irish leipreachán.

leprechaun m (plural leprechauns)

1. (Irish folklore) leprechaun

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.