What's the rule for which 'national identity adjective' suffix to use?
What's the rule for which 'national identity adjective' suffix to use?
[-ish] Ireland, Scotland = Irish, Scottish
[-an] Morocco, Germany = Moroccan, German
[-ese] Portugal, China = Portuguese, Chinese
What rule is at play here? 🤔
Cheers!
Netherlands = Dutch
68 0 ReplyThe English Language, where the grammar is made up and the rules don't matter.
I can add:
[-er] New Zealander
46 1 ReplyDemonyms don't follow any particular rules, as far as I know. I'm an "-egian" myself.
43 0 ReplyCanada = Canadese (nuts fit in your mouth?)
38 0 ReplyI can tell you that this is called demonym, but I don't know the answer to your question... The Wikipedia page has a long list of suffixes, but no rules: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonym
34 0 ReplyThere is no common rule. It varies by the way the language evolved over time.
Also the word you are looking for is "Demonym"
34 0 ReplyThere are no rules in English. Ask the people from each country what they prefer
28 1 ReplyI'm in Michigan, that makes me a Michigander. The rules are made up and the suffixes don't matter.
24 0 ReplyPeople from Iceland are only called Icelandic because “Icish” would sound a bit silly.
21 0 ReplyWe're all Earthicans, no need to divide it up further than that
19 1 ReplyDenmark -> Dane
I guess that actually the other way around, Denmark : Dane's field/farm(there is a better English word for mark but can't remember)
13 0 ReplyIt's based on what sounds best.
11 0 ReplyFind what sounds most natural, if that can't be found, go with what sounds the least catastrophically unnatural.
10 0 ReplyJust attach "man" to the end of all of them for maximum offence.
7 0 ReplyAmericaneseish.
8 1 ReplyThere is no rule. It just is whatever it is.
7 1 ReplyI was literally thinking about this yesterday… what’s someone from Belgium called? I couldn’t figure out an ending to add. Belgian?
5 0 ReplyPeople from Indiana are called hoosiers - this, like many things in English, doesn't have a hard and fast rule... the sounds at the end of the word certainly impact it, but there are exceptions. Just ask a Peruvian.
5 0 ReplyThere is a Words For Granted podcast episode about that. Don't remember much tho. Have fun!
5 0 ReplyAfghani, Pakistani,
4 0 ReplyMeanwhile there is no specific demonym for people from the united states, you can say american buy that would also include every other north and south american country
8 4 ReplySo Philippines is Philippinese?
2 0 Reply