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Countries, Adjective Forms & Nationalities: Countries, Adjective Forms, and Nationalities (#6)

Dennis Oliver

The adjective forms for countries and the names for citizens of countries
are often confusing in English. This happens for two reasons. First, there
is no easy way to change a country's name to its adjective form because
several different endings are used for this purpose. Second, the words
for nationalities are often the same as the adjective forms, but not always.

Here is more information on names of countries, their adjective forms,
and the words used for their citizens.

 

Countries, Adjective Forms,
and Nationalities (#6)

 country

 adjective

nationality
Haiti Haitian Haitian
Honduras Honduran Honduran
Hungary Hungarian Hungarian
Iceland Icelandic Icelander
India Indian Indian*
Indonesia Indonesian Indonesian
Iran Iranian Iranian*
Iraq Iraqi Iraqi
Ireland Irish Irishman* (men),
Irishwoman* (women)
Israel Israeli Israeli
Italy Italian Italian

____________________________________________________

 

Special Notes:

1. In the U.S., East Indian is sometimes used as a nationality
form for 
India (because the native peoples of North and
South America are sometimes called 
Indians).
2. Note that Persian is sometimes used instead of Iranian
for both the adjective and nationality forms for 
Iran.
3. The nationality forms for Ireland also include the Irish
as a collective plural (meaning "all the Irish people").
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