different between puck vs leprechaun

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: p?k, IPA^(key): /p?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Etymology 1

From Middle English puke, from Old English p?ca (“goblin, demon”), from Proto-Germanic *p?kô (“a goblin, spook”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)p?ug(')- (“brilliance, spectre”). Cognate with Old Norse púki (“devil”) (dialectal Swedish puke), Middle Low German sp?k, sp?k (“apparition, ghost”), German Spuk (“a haunting”). More at spook.

Noun

puck (plural pucks)

1. (now rare) A mischievous or hostile spirit. [from 10th c.]
   • 2017, Ronald Hutton, The Witch, Yale University Press 2018, p. 232:

     William Tyndale allotted this character a role, of leading nocturnal travellers astray as the puck had been said to do since Anglo-Saxon times and the goblin since the later medieval period.

Synonyms

• See goblin (hostile) and fairy (mischievous)

Derived terms

• puckish

Etymology 2

From or influenced by Irish poc (“stroke in hurling, bag”). Compare poke (1861).

Verb

puck (third-person singular simple present pucks, present participle pucking, simple past and past participle pucked)

1. (chiefly Ireland) To hit, strike. [from 19th c.]

Noun

puck (plural pucks)

1. (ice hockey) A hard rubber disc; any other flat disc meant to be hit across a flat surface in a game. [from 19th c.]
   • 1886, Boston Daily Globe (28 February), p 2:

     In hockey a flat piece of rubber, say four inches long by three wide and about an inch thick, called a ‘puck’, is used.

2. (chiefly Canada) An object shaped like a puck. [from 20th c.]
   • 2004, Art Directors Annual, v 83, Rotovision, p 142:

     He reaches into the urinal and picks up the puck. He then walk over to the sink and replaces a bar of soap with the urinal puck.

3. (computing) A pointing device with a crosshair. [from 20th c.]
4. (hurling, camogie) A penalty shot.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Danish: puck
• ? German: Puck
• ? Swedish: puck

Translations

See also

• Hockey puck on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 3

From the Irish poc (“male adult goat, billy goat”).

Noun

puck (plural pucks)

1. (Ireland, rural) billy goat

Etymology 4

Blend of pike +? tuck

Noun

puck (plural pucks)

1. (trampoline, gymnastics) A body position between the pike and tuck positions, with knees slightly bent and folded in; open tuck.

Swedish

Etymology

From English puck.

Noun

puck c

1. puck

Declension

Further reading

• puck in Svensk ordbok.

English

Alternative forms

• lepracaun

Etymology

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 *h?leng??-) + corp (“body”, which is from Latin corpus). However, an alternative suggestion is that it is a derivative of Latin Luperc? (“priests of Lupercus”), who were misinterpreted as an antediluvian species by medieval Irish scholars.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?l?p??k??n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?l?pr??k?n/, /?l?pr??k?n/

Noun

leprechaun (plural leprechauns)

1. (Irish folklore) One of a race of elves that can reveal hidden treasure to those who catch them.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Further reading

• leprechaun on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Italian

Alternative forms

• leprecano, lepricauno, leprecauno (adapted forms)

Etymology

Borrowed from English leprechaun, from Irish leipreachán, luprachán, from Middle Irish luchrupán, from Old Irish luchorpán, of disputed etymology.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?.pre.kon/, /?l?.pri.kon/

Noun

leprechaun m (invariable)

1. (Irish folklore) leprechaun

   Synonyms: gnomo irlandese, folletto irlandese

Derived terms

• leprechaunismo