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"Leprechaun" is popularly credited as being from the Gaelic word "leipreachán", meaning "a pigmy, a Sprite, or luchorpán, which means a kind of aqueous sprite". The word is also defined as meaning "half-bodied" or "small-bodied". See the Collins English Dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary quotes leath bhrógan as the original word, which means shoe-maker, and this makes sense since the leprechaun is known as the fairy shoemaker of Ireland and is often portrayed working on a single shoe, much like the fairytale of the Poor Shoemaker.

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16y ago

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