Other forms: leprechauns
A leprechaun is a mischievous little man of Irish folklore. Catch a leprechaun, the leprechaun's gold, dressed as a leprechaun.
In the older stories he is a solitary shoemaker who guards a hidden crock of gold and must grant wishes if caught, and he is not the cheerful green figure of the tourist shops, which is largely an American invention of the last century.
1nounleprechaunA mischievous little man of Irish folklore.
“Irish children are told that a leprechaun hides a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”
leprechaun is a folklore figure.
Irish leipreachan, from Old Irish luchorpan, apparently from lu, small, plus corp, a body.
Old Irish
luchorpán
mga
luchrupán
Irish
leipreachán
English, today
leprechaun
From Irish leipreachán, luprachán, from mga 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 + corp. 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. Suffix may have been assimilated to Irish -achán (“diminutive”), compare derivation of clurichaun.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA