Leprechaun

Definition: Leprechaun

Leprechaun

Noun

1. A mischievous elf in Irish folklore.

Date "leprechaun" was first used: 1604. (references)

Synonyms within Context: Leprechaun

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Demon	Vampire, ghoul; afreet, barghest, Loki; ogre, ogress; gnome, gin, jinn, imp, deev, lamia; bogie, bogeyman, bogle; nis, kobold, flibbertigibbet, fairy, brownie, pixy, elf, dwarf, urchin; Puck, Robin Goodfellow; leprechaun, Cluricaune, troll, dwerger, sprite, ouphe, bad fairy, nix, nixie, pigwidgeon, will-o'-the wisp.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Specialty Definition: Leprechaun

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

In Irish folklore, leprechauns are a type of elf said to inhabit the island of Ireland. A few Irish people believe in the reality of leprechauns but most people treat them as a charming piece of folklore that adds to the magic of Ireland.

The leprechaun according to folklore

Leprechaun sightings, while rare, occur most frequently in the vicinity of faerie forts (drumlins).

Solitary by nature, leprechauns live in remote places and make shoes and brogues. Their name literally means "one shoe maker" and they are sometimes detected by the rhythmic tapping of their cobbler's hammer as they go about their work.

In appearance a leprechaun takes the form of a diminutive old man, usually no larger than three feet tall, wearing a cocked hat, leather (work) apron, woolen vest, knee breeches, long stockings and silver-buckled brogues. They are always bearded and are usually pipe smokers. In modern times leprechauns are often depicted wearing emerald green frock coats as part of a brightly colored ensemble but this has more to do with the image of a leprechaun on the packaging of the popular breakfast cereal Lucky Charms than established tradition.

Leprechauns know the location of buried treasure, often a crock of gold. They will reveal the location of this treasure if caught but will not give it up easily, hence the saying that a leprechaun's treasure is at the "end of the rainbow" (i.e. unobtainable).

By nature leprechauns are mischievous with a great fondness for Celtic music and sports. They like nothing better than a well-crafted, ironic practical joke and Irish folklore is replete with examples. Once, a farmer captured a leprechaun and forced him to reveal the location of buried treasure. The leprechaun assured him that the treasure was buried in an open field beneath a particular ragwort plant. The farmer tied a red bandana to the plant, released the leprechaun, and left to get a shovel. Upon his return he found that all the weeds in the field had been tied with identical red bandanas.

Leprechauns are said to serve as defenders of the faerie community i.e. a type of palace guard to the faerie queen.

Leprechauns in fiction

John Franklin Bardin: The Deadly Percheron (1946) (ISBN 1841950130 [UK] or ISBN 1890208108 [US]).

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Leprechaun."

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Crosswords: Leprechaun

Specialty definitions using "leprechaun": Lubberkin. (references)

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Modern Usage: Leprechaun

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Maybe an elf or a leprechaun. (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; writing credit: Ethan Coen) That's where I saw the leprechaun! He told me to burn things. (The Simpsons; writing credit: Artur Brauner; Paul Hengge) Hey you, Half Pint, Junior Mint, Pipsqueak, Tiny Tim, Yardstick, Snack Pack, Wee Fella, Brown Leprechaun! (Clone High; writing credit: Damian Chapa) (After Leprechaun becomes a giant) What did you shoot him with, steroids? (Leprechaun 4: In Space; writing credit: Dennis A. Pratt)
Movie/TV Titles	Leprechaun 6 (2003) A Very Unlucky Leprechaun (1998) The Last Leprechaun (1998) Leprechaun 4: In Space (1996)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Leprechaun

Domain	Title
Books	Baby-Sitters Little Sister #59: Karen's Leprechaun (reference) Jack and the Leprechaun (Random House Pictureback) (reference) Leprechaun Cake and Other Tales: A Vegetarian Story-Cookbook (reference) Tuckit the Leprechaun (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	Leprechaun (reference) Leprechaun 2 (reference) Leprechaun Pot of Gore Collection (5 DVD Set) (reference) Leprechaun 4: In Space (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Leprechaun (with Bonus CD) [EXPLICIT LYRICS] (reference) Memoirs of Da Leprechaun (reference) The Leprechaun (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

High Tech	POCKETPC FILMS Leprechaun (reference) (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Leprechaun

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Usage Frequency: Leprechaun

"Leprechaun" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 93.75% of the time. "Leprechaun" is used about 48 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	93.75%	45	50,900
Lexical Verb (base form)	6.25%	3	202,518
Total	100.00%	48	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Leprechaun

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
leprechaun	409	evil leprechaun	6
leprechaun picture	78	back da hood in leprechaun	6
leprechaun movie	48	bus leprechaun	5
leprechaun tattoo	42	leprechaun 4	5
leprechaun pic	24	fighting irish leprechaun	5
6 leprechaun	20	drawing leprechaun	5
leprechaun in the hood	15	lil flip the leprechaun	5
leprechaun 3	14	leprechaun costume	5
leprechaun clip art	13	vanishing leprechaun	4
irish leprechaun	11	leprechaun line	4
leprechaun clipart	11	bus leprechaun line	4
lucky charm leprechaun	11	leprechaun image	4
notre dame leprechaun	10	day leprechaun patricks st	4
cartoon leprechaun	10	leprechaun picture tattoo	4
leprechaun lucky	10	leprechaun legend	4
coachman leprechaun	9	fairy irish leprechaun	4
leprechaun lighting	7	leprechaun joke	4
leprechaun 2	7	aniston jennifer leprechaun	3
leprechaun art	6	leprechaun little	3
chucky leprechaun vs	6	leprechaun photo	3
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Leprechaun

Language		Translations for "leprechaun"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Arabic		‏متشيطن, ‏جني (ghoulish). (various references)

Bulgarian		елф във вид на дребно старче. (various references)

French		lutin, farfadet. (various references)

German		Heinzelmännchen (brownie, goblin, imp). (various references)

Greek		καλλικάτζαροσ, ιρλανδικό φάντασμα. (various references)

Hebrew		ש�"ון (elf, gnome, imp, sprite), �'מ�" �"רשע. (various references)

Hungarian		manó (boggle, bogy, brownie, elf, elfin, elves, flibbertigibbet, gnome, Goblin, hobgoblin, imp, pigmy, pixie, pixy, pygmy, sprite, troll). (various references)

Italian		fata (fairy, pixie, pixy). (various references)

Pig Latin		eprechaunlay

Portuguese		leporino, duende (Bogle, elf, elfin, hob, hobgoblin, imp, pixie, pixy, spirit, sprite). (various references)

Russian		эльф (elf, fairy, pixy, puck, sprite). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		kućni duh (bogy, brownie). (various references)

Spanish		duende (brownie, daemon, duende, elf, Goblin, hob, hobgoblin, poltergeist, puck, sprite), amo (boss, chief, householder, leader, master, owner). (various references)

Swedish		pyssling (lilliputian, manikin). (various references)

Turkish		irlanda masal kahramanı cüce cin, cüce cin (Goblin). (various references)

Ukranian		гном (dwarf, gnome, pygmy). (various references)

Vietnamese		quỷ (dickens, hobgoblin, pooka), ma (devil, dickens, python). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Leprechaun

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	corpus. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Leprechaun

Derivations
	Words beginning with "leprechaun": leprechaunish, leprechauns. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Leprechaun" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: leperchaun, leprachaun, leprecaun, leprechan, leprechaurn, leprehorn, leprekaun, leprochaun. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Anagrams: Leprechaun

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-c-e-e-h-l-n-p-r-u"
	-1 letter: herculean, prelaunch.
	-2 letters: cerulean, launcher, penuchle, preclean, prelunch, relaunch.
	-3 letters: charnel, cheapen, cheaper, cleaner, cleanup, cupeler, leacher, lucarne, lucerne, luncher, nuclear, peacher, penuche, percale, planche, pleurae, puncher, reclean, repanel, replace, unclear, upreach.
	-4 letters: achene, apercu, careen, carpel, cereal, chapel, chelae, crenel, culpae, cuneal, enlace, eparch, euchre, eupnea, haleru, hauler, healer, helper, lacune, lancer, launce.
	Words containing the letters "a-c-e-e-h-l-n-p-r-u"
	+1 letter: leprechauns.
	+3 letters: leprechaunish.
	+4 letters: hypermasculine, undecipherable.
	+5 letters: reproachfulness.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.