shoneen

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

Irish seónín, from Seón ‘John’ + -ín diminutive suffix.

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /'ʃəʊni:n/

[edit] Noun

shoneen (plural shoneens)

1. (Anglo-Irish, derogatory) One who prefers English attitudes, customs or lifestyle to Irish ones.
   • 1889: Good Father John O'Hart / In penal days rode out / To a shoneen who had free lands / And his own snipe and trout. — WB Yeats, ‘The Ballad of Father O'Hart’
   • 1922: So then the citizens begin talking about the Irish language and the corporation meeting and all to that and the shoneens that can’t speak their own language — James Joyce, Ulysses