List of adjectivals and demonyms for subcontinental regions

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The following is a list of adjectival forms of subcontinental regions in English and their demonymic equivalents, which denote the people or the inhabitants of these subcontinental regions.

Contents

Note: Demonyms are given in plural forms. Singular forms simply remove the final 's' or, in the case of -ese endings, are the same as the plural forms. The ending -men has feminine equivalent -women (e.g. an Irishman and a Scotswoman). The French terminations -ois / ais serve as both the singular and plural masculine; adding 'e' (-oise / aise) makes them singular feminine; 'es' (-oises / aises) makes them plural feminine. The Spanish termination "-o" usually denotes the masculine and is normally changed to feminine by dropping the "-o" and adding "-a". The plural forms are usually "-os" and "-as" respectively.

Adjectives ending -ish can be used as collective demonyms (e.g. the English, the Cornish). So can those ending in -ch / -tch (e.g. the French, the Dutch) provided they are pronounced with a 'ch' sound (e.g. the adjective Czech does not qualify).

Where an adjective is a link, the link is to the language or dialect of the same name. (Reference: Ethnologue, Languages of the World)

Many place-name adjectives and many demonyms refer also to various other things, sometimes with and sometimes without one or more additional words. (Sometimes, the use of one or more additional words is optional.) Notable examples are cheeses, cat breeds, dog breeds, and horse breeds. (See List of words derived from toponyms.)

Africa

NameAdjective Demonym
Cyrenaica CyreneCyrenes
Darfur DarfurDarfuris
Maghreb MaghrebMaghrebis
Mediterranean Mediterranean
Nile River Nilotic
Nubia NubianNubians
Sahara SaharanSahrawi
Zanzibar ZanzibarZanzibaris
Macaronesia MacaronesianMacaronesians

Americas

NameAdjective Demonym
Acadia AcadianAcadians
Acadiana, Cajun Country Acadian(Cajuns)
Aleutian Islands Aleut, AleutianAleuts, Aleutians
Amazon river and  Amazon region Amazonian
Andes Andean
Antilles AntilleanAntilleans
Appalachia Appalachian
Caribbean Caribbean
Cascadia CascadianCascadians
Ceara CearenseCearenses
Guiana GuiananGuianans
Long Island Long IslandLong Islanders
Maritimes MaritimeMaritimers
Minas Gerais MineiroMineiros
New England New EnglandNew Englanders
Northern Mexico NorteñoNorteños
Patagonia PatagonianPatagonians
Parana (state) ParanaenseParanaenses
Rio de Janeiro (state) FluminenseFluminenses
Rio Grande do Sul Sul-rio-grandense, GaúchoGaúchos
St. Lawrence River Laurentian
Santa Catarina Catarinense, Barriga-verdeCatarinenses, Barrigas-verdes
São Paulo (state) PaulistaPaulistas
South (U.S.) SouthernSoutherners
Upper Peninsula of Michigan Yoopers
West Indies West IndianWest Indians

Asia

NameAdjective Demonym
Bali Balinese Balinese
Balochistan, Baluchistan Balochi/s, Baluchi/s
Bangsamoro Moro
Bengal Bengali Bengalis
Bicol Bicol, Bicolano Bicolanos
Bihar Bihari Biharis
Borneo BorneanBorneans
Caucasus, Caucasia Caucasian, CaucasicCaucasians
Central Asia Central Asian Central Asians
Flores Floresian
Gujarat Gujarati Gujaratis
Himalayas Himalayan
Hokkaidō Dosanko (道産子)
Indochina IndochineseIndochinese
Java, Pasundan Javanese, SundaneseJavanese, Sundanese
Kashmir KashmiranKashmiris, Kashmirite
Korea Korean Koreans
Kumaon Kumaoni Kumaiye, Kumaonis
Luzon LuzonesLuzones
Melanesia MelanesianMelanesians
Moluccas MoluccanMoluccans
Mindanao MindanaoanMindanaoans
Negros Negrenses, Negrosanons
Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands Okinawan, RyukyuanOkinawans, Ryukyuans
Punjab Punjabi Punjabis
Siberia SiberianSiberians
Indian subcontinent Subcontinental Desis
Sulawesi SulawesianSulawesians
Sumatra SumatranSumatrans
Sylhet SylhetiSylhetis
Tibet Tibetan Tibetans
Visayas Visayan Visayans

Middle East

NameAdjective Demonym
Arabia Arab, ArabianArabs, Arabians
Galilee GalileanGalileans
Judea, Judaea Judean, JudaeanJudeans, Judaeans
Levant LevantineLevantines
Kurdistan Kurdish Kurds
Samaria SamaritanSamaritans
Anatolia AnatolianAnatolians

Oceania

NameAdjective Demonym
Antipodes aAntipodeanAntipodeans
Melanesia MelanesianMelanesians
Micronesia MicronesianMicronesians
Polynesia PolynesianPolynesians
Tahiti Tahitian Tahitians
New Guinea New GuineanNew Guineans

a Usually refers to Australia and New Zealand.

Europe

NameAdjective Demonym
Alps Alpine
Alsace Alsatian Alsatians
Andalusia AndalusianAndalusians
Apennines Apennine
Apulia ApulianApulians
Aragon Aragonese Aragonese
Asturias Asturian Asturians
Balkans Balkan
Baltic region BalticBalts
Bavaria BavarianBavarians
Basque Country Basque Basques
Bessarabia BessarabianBessarabians
Black Sea region, Chornomoriia Black Sea, ChornomorianBlack Sea Cossacks
Bohemia BohemianBohemians
Boyko region, BoikivshchynaBoyko Boykos
Bukovina BukovinianBukovinians
Brittany Breton Bretons
Burgundy Burgundian Burgundians
Calabria CalabrianCalabrians
Cambridge Cantabrigian Cantabrigians
Campania CampanianCampanians
Cantabria CantabrianCantabrians
Canterbury CantuarianCantuarians
Carinthia CarinthianCarinthians
Carpathians Carpathian
Castile Castilian Castilians
Catalonia Catalan Catalans
Caucasus, Caucasia Caucasian, CaucasicCaucasians
CiscarpathiaCiscarpathian
Cornwall Cornish Cornish
Corsica Corsican Corsicans
Courland CuronianCuronians
Crete Cretan Cretans
Crimea CrimeanCrimeans
Cumbria CumbrianCumbrians
Dalmatia DalmatianDalmatians
Danube River Danubian
Dnieper UkraineDniprianDniprians
Extremadura ExtremaduranExtremadurans
Fife FifeFifers
Flanders Flemish Flemings
Franconia FranconianFranconians
Friesland, Frisian Islands Friesian, FrisianFriesians, Frisians
Galicia (Central Europe) GalicianGalicians
Galloway GallovidianGallovidians
Gascony Gascon Gascons
Gotland GotlandGotlanders
Gozo GozitanGozitans
Harrow HarrovianHarrovians
Hesse HessianHessians
Holstein HolsteinianHolsteiners
Hutsul region, HutsulshchynaHutsul Hutsuls
Iberian Peninsula IberianIberians
Istria IstrianIstrians
Jutland JutlandJutlanders
Karelia KarelianKarelians
Kosovo and Methohija Kosovar, KosovanKosovars, Kosovans
KubanKubanKubanians, Kuban Cossacks
Left-bank Ukraine, "Little Russia" (historical), Hetmanshchyna, HetmaniaUkrainian, "Little Russian" (historical)Hetmanians, hetmantsi, "Little Russians" (historical), Ukrainians
Lemko region, Lemkivshchyna Lemkian, Lemk Lemkos, Lemkians, Lemks
Lancashire LancastrianLancastrians
Lapland Lapp, Saami Lappish, Saamis
León Leonese Leoneses
Lombardy Lombard, LombardicLombards
Lorraine LorrainianLorrainians
Lusatia Lusatian Lusatians
Majorca, MallorcaMajorcan, MallorcanMajorcans, Mallorcans
Mediterranean Mediterranean
Menorca MenorcanMenorcans
Moravia MoravianMoravians
Murcia MurcianMurcians
Navarre NavarreseNavarrese
Normandy Norman Normans
Northumberland, Northumbria NorthumbrianNorthumbrians
Orkney OrcadianOrcadians
Palatinate PalatinePalatines
Peloponnese PeloponnesianPeloponnesians
Pennines Pennine
Picardy Picard Picards
Piedmont Piedmontese Piedmontese
Po River Padane
Podolia, PodilliaPodolian, Podillian Podolians, Podillians
Pokuttia Pokuttian
Polesia, PolissiaPolesian, PolissianPoleshuks, Poleshchuks
Pomerania PomeranianPomeranians
Provence Provençal
Pyrenees Pyrenean
Rhineland RhenishRhinelanders
Right-bank Ukraine, Trans-Dnieper Ukraine Trans-Dnieper, Trans-Dniprian
Rus' (Ruthenia)Rus', Ruthenian, Ruthene, Rus'ian, Russian (historical) Rus', rusichi, Ruthenians, Ruthenes, East Slavs, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians (historical)
Ruthenia (Carpathian Ruthenia)Ruthenian, Ruthene Ruthenians, Ruthenes, Rusyns, Rusnaks
Samogitia Samogitian Samogitians
Sardinia Sardinian Sardinians
Savoy Savoyard Savoyards
Saxony SaxonSaxons
Scandinavia ScandinavianScandinavians
Scania ScanianScanians
Shetland ShetlandShetlanders
Sicily Sicilian Sicilians
Silesia SilesianSilesians
Sloboda Ukraine, SlobozhanshchynaSloboda Ukrainian, SlobozhanianSloboda Cossacks, Sloboda Ukrainians, Slobozhanians
Styria StyrianStyrians
Subcarpathia (also Transcarpathia)Subcarpathian
Thrace ThracianThracians
Thuringia ThuringianThuringians
Transcarpathia (also Subcarpathia)Transcarpathia
Transylvania TransylvanianTransylvanians
Tuscany Tuscan Tuscans
Tyrol Tyrolean, TyroleseTyroleans, Tyrolese
Umbria UmbrianUmbrians
Veneto Venetian Venetians
Volhynia Volhynian Volhynians
Wallachia WallachianWallachians
Wallonia Walloon Walloons
Westphalia WestphalianWestphalians
Zaporizhzhia, Zaporozhian UkraineZaporozhianZaporozhians
Zeeland ZeelandZeelanders

See also

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References