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leprechaun

[lep-ruh-kawn, -kon]
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noun Irish Folklore.

a dwarf or sprite.
a conventionalized literary representation of this figure as a little old man who will reveal the location of a hidden crock of gold to anyone who catches him.

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RELATED WORDS

pixie, fairy, gnome, brownie, fay, sprite, elfin

Origin of leprechaun

1595–1605; < Irish leipreachán, lucharachán, MIr luchrapán, lupra(c)cán, metathesized forms of Old Irish lúchorp(án), equivalent to lú- small + corp body (< Latin corpus) + -án diminutive suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for leprechaun

Contemporary Examples of leprechaun

  • Entertainment Weekly named this 2003 movie, the sixth in the Leprechaun series, one of the 25 Worst Sequels Ever Made.

    The Daily Beast logo
    10 Movies Too Awful for the Theater

    Shannon Donnelly, The Daily Beast Video

    March 28, 2009

Historical Examples of leprechaun

British Dictionary definitions for leprechaun

leprechaun

noun

(in Irish folklore) a mischievous elf, often believed to have a treasure hoard

Word Origin for leprechaun

C17: from Irish Gaelic leipreachān, from Middle Irish lūchorpān, from lū small + corp body, from Latin corpus body
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for leprechaun
n.

c.1600, from Irish lupracan, metathesis from Old Irish luchorpan literally "a very small body," from lu "little" (from PIE *legwh- "having little weight;" see light (adj.)) + corpan, diminutive of corp "body," from Latin corpus "body" (see corporeal). Commonly spelled lubrican in 17c. English. Leithbragan is Irish folk etymology, from leith "half" + brog "brogue," because the spirit was "supposed to be always employed in making or mending a single shoe."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper