leprechaun
Americannoun
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a dwarf or sprite.
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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.
noun
Etymology
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
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He memorably dressed up as a leprechaun, another time as an FBI agent.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 28, 2025
As Fintan O'Toole quipped recently in the Irish Times, his country "found the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow without even trying to catch the leprechaun."
From Salon • Dec. 2, 2024
There’s probably a little leprechaun one for St. Patrick’s Day.
From Slate • May 30, 2024
A clock still hung on the wall, but most everything else lay in tatters on the sodden grass: a flower pot, socks, a festive tinsel leprechaun.
From New York Times • Sep. 29, 2022
Instead, I inspected a paper leprechaun that was dangling from the ceiling on a string.
From "The Stars Beneath Our Feet" by David Barclay Moore
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
