Sicilian

See also: sicilian

English

Etymology

From Latin Sicilia +‎ -an. By surface analysis, Sicily +‎ -an.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɪˈsɪliən/, /sɪˈsɪljən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: caecilian

Adjective

Sicilian (not comparable)

1. Of, from or relating to Sicily, Italy.
   • 2020 June 12, Kate Waldock and Luigi Zingales, “Should we defund the police?”, in Capitalisn't‎^[1], archived from the original on 20 February 2026:

     Sorry, I’m Italian, and let’s say I see that Sicilian policemen arrest less people in Sicily. This could be for two reasons, one is that everybody else overarrests, or the Sicilian policemen underarrest. And can you tell those two things apart?

Derived terms

• Anti-Sicilian
• anti-Sicilian
• Sicilian code
• Sicilianism
• Sicilian Italian
• Sicilianization
• Sicilianness

Translations

relating to Sicily or its inhabitants

• Arabic: صِقِلِّيّ (ṣiqilliyy)
• Armenian: սիցիլիական (sicʻiliakan)
• Asturian: sicilianu (ast)
• Basque: siziliar
• Bulgarian: сицилиа́нски (siciliánski)
• Catalan: sicilià (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 西西里的 (Xīxīlǐ de)

• Czech: sicilský (cs)
• Danish: siciliansk
• Dutch: Siciliaans (nl)
• Finnish: sisilialainen (fi)
• French: sicilien (fr) m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: Sisyljaansk n, Sisilysk n (rare)

• Galician: siciliano (gl)
• Georgian: სიცილიური (siciliuri)
• German: sizilianisch (de)
• Greek: σικελικός (el) (sikelikós)

  Ancient Greek: Σικελικός (Sikelikós)

• Hungarian: szicíliai (hu)
• Icelandic: sikileyskur
• Italian: siciliano (it)
• Japanese: シチリアの (Shichiria no)
• Korean: 시칠리아의 (sichilliaui)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: sicîlyayî (ku), sîcîlyayî (ku)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: siciliansk

  Nynorsk: siciliansk

• Old English: Sicilisċ
• Persian: سیسیلی (fa) (sisili)
• Polish: sycylijski (pl)
• Portuguese: siciliano (pt)
• Romanian: sicilian (ro)
• Russian: сицили́йский (ru) (sicilíjskij)
• Sardinian: sitzilianu m, sitziliana f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сицилѝја̄нскӣ

  Latin: sicilìjānskī (sh)

• Sicilian: sicilianu (scn) m, siciliana (scn) f
• Slovak: sicílsky
• Spanish: siciliano (es)
• Swedish: siciliansk (sv)
• Turkish: Sicilyalı (tr)
• Volapük: Sikileänik (vo)

Proper noun

Sicilian

1. The language of Sicily.
2. (geology) A sub-age from 0.781 to 0.26 million years ago, a subdivision of the Pleistocene.

Translations

language

• Afrikaans: Sisiliaans
• Arabic: الصقلية
• Asturian: sicilianu (ast) m
• Basque: siziliera (eu)
• Bulgarian: сицилиа́нски (siciliánski)
• Catalan: sicilià (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 西西里語 (Xīxīlǐ yǔ)

• Czech: sicilština (cs) f
• Danish: siciliansk n
• Dutch: Siciliaans (nl) n
• Finnish: sisilia (fi), sisilian kieli
• French: sicilien (fr) m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: Sisyljaansk n, Sisilysk n (rare)

• Georgian: სიცილიური (siciliuri), სიცილიური ენა (siciliuri ena)
• German: Sizilianisch (de) n
• Greek: σικελικά (el) n pl (sikeliká), σικελική γλώσσα f (sikelikí glóssa)
• Hungarian: szicíliai nyelv, szicíliai (hu)
• Icelandic: sikileyska (is) f
• Ido: Siciliana (io)
• Irish: an tSicilis
• Italian: siciliano (it) m
• Japanese: シチリア語 (ja) (Shichiria-go)
• Korean: 시칠리아 방언 (sichillia bang'eon)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: sicîlyayî (ku), sîcîlyayî (ku), sîcîlyanî

• Norwegian: siciliansk m
• Persian: سیسیلی (fa) (sisili)
• Polish: sycylijski (pl) m, język sycylijski m
• Portuguese: siciliano (pt) m
• Romanian: siciliană (ro) f, limba siciliană f
• Russian: сицили́йский (ru) m (sicilíjskij), сицили́йский язы́к m (sicilíjskij jazýk)
• Sardinian: sitzilianu m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сицилѝја̄нскӣ јѐзик m

  Latin: sicilìjānskī jèzik m

• Sicilian: sicilianu (scn) m
• Spanish: siciliano (es) m
• Swedish: sicilianska (sv) c
• Turkish: Sicilyaca (tr)
• Volapük: Sikilieänapük

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Sicilian terms

Further reading

• ISO 639-3 code scn (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Sicilian, scn ⁠
• “Sicilian”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Noun

Sicilian (plural Sicilians)

1. A native or inhabitant of Sicily, Italy.
   • 1861, The Foreign Quarterly Review, volume 75, page 553:

     The picture of devastated Palermo which he draws fills up the measure of the dastardly oppression which has now passed away; more disgraceful excesses than those committed by the Bavarese, as the Sicilians called the royal troops, were [...]

2. Any chess opening that starts 1 e4 c5.
   • 2009, Reg Keeland, translator, The Girl Who Played with Fire (translation of, 2006 (publication date), Stieg Larsson, Flickan som lekte med elden), Knopf, →ISBN, chapter 9, page 129:

     Palmgren was playing white and had opened the Sicilian quite correctly.

Hypernyms

• (opening): the Sicilian Defence, the Sicilian Defense

Translations

person

• Arabic: صِقِلِّية f (ṣiqilliya), صِقِلِّيّ m (ṣiqilliyy)
• Armenian: սիցիլիացի (sicʻiliacʻi)
• Asturian: sicilianu (ast) m, siciliana (ast) f
• Basque: siziliar
• Bulgarian: сицилиа́нец m (siciliánec), сицилиа́нка f (siciliánka)
• Catalan: sicilià (ca) m, siciliana (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 西西里人 (Xīxīlǐ rén)

• Czech: Sicilan m
• Dutch: Siciliaan (nl) m, Siciliaanse (nl) f
• Esperanto: siciliano (man or woman), sicilianino (woman)
• Estonian: sitsiillane
• Finnish: sisilialainen (fi)
• French: Sicilien (fr) m, Sicilienne (fr) f
• Galician: siciliano (gl) m
• Georgian: სიცილიელი (sicilieli)
• German: Sizilianer (de) m, Sizilianerin (de) f
• Greek: Σικελός (el) m (Sikelós), Σικελή (el) f (Sikelí)

  Ancient Greek: Σικελός m (Sikelós)

• Hungarian: szicíliai (hu)
• Ido: Siciliano (io)
• Italian: siciliano (it) m, siciliana (it) f
• Japanese: シチリア人 (Shichiria-jin)
• Korean: 시칠리아 사람 (sichillia saram)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sicilianer m

  Nynorsk: sicilianar m

• Persian: سیسیلی (fa) (sisili)
• Polish: Sycylijczyk (pl) m, Sycylijka (pl) f
• Portuguese: siciliano (pt) m, siciliana f
• Romanian: sicilian (ro) m, siciliană (ro) f, siciliancă f
• Russian: сицили́ец (ru) m (sicilíjec), сицили́йка (ru) f (sicilíjka)
• Sicilian: sicilianu (scn) m, siciliana (scn) f
• Spanish: siciliano (es) m, siciliana (es) f
• Swedish: sicilianare (sv) c
• Turkish: Sicilyalı (tr)
• Volapük: Sikileänan (vo)

chess opening — see Sicilian Defence

Anagrams

• silician