jack-o'-lantern

See also: jack o'lantern and Jack O'Lantern

English

WOTD – 31 October 2007

A jack-o'-lantern.

Alternative forms

• Jack O'Lantern

Etymology

Originally, a night watchman who carried a lantern. (See Jack)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʒæk.əʊˌlæn.tən/
• IPA^(key): /ˈdʒæk.oʊˌlæn.tɚn/, /ˈdʒæk.əˌlæn.tɚn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

jack-o'-lantern (plural jack-o'-lanterns)

1. A carved pumpkin whose top and stem have been cut out and interior removed, leaving a hollow shell that is then decorated to represent a face, illuminated from within by a candle.
2. (archaic) A will o' the wisp.
   • Lowell

     [newspaper speculations] supplying so many more jack-o'-lanterns to the future historian

Quotations

• 2001 — Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age : A Romance, paperback ed., p.218

  He had a jocose jack-o'-lantern grin, big crooked nicotine-stained teeth, and a full droopy dark moustache and wiry whiskers hiding a weak chin. (attributive use)

Translations

carved pumpkin

• Arabic: قرعة مضيئة
• Azerbaijani: cek fənəri
• Basque: Jack Linterna
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 南瓜燈／南瓜灯 (zh) (nánguādēng), 南瓜灯 (zh) (nánguādēng), 傑克南瓜燈／杰克南瓜灯 (jiékè-nánguādēng), 杰克南瓜灯 (jiékènánguādēng)

• Danish: græskarhoved
• Estonian: kõrvitslatern
• Finnish: kurpitsalyhty
• French: citrouille d’Halloween f, citrouille-lanterne (fr) f
• Georgian: მნათობი ჯეკი (mnatobi ǯeḳi)
• German: Halloween-Kürbis m, Jack mit der Laterne
• Greek: τζακ ο' λάντερν (tzak o' lántern)
• Hebrew: ג'ק-או-לנטרן
• Hungarian: töklámpás
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: Seán na gealaí m
• Italian: zucca di Halloween f
• Japanese: ジャックオランタン (jakku o rantan)
• Korean: 잭오랜턴 (jaegoraenteon)
• Norman: balle-à-leunettes (Jersey)
• Polish: latarnia z dyni f
• Russian: Светильник Джек (Svetilʹnik Džek)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Џек-о'-Лантерн

• Spanish: calabaza (es) f
• Thai: แจ็กโอแลนเทิร์น
• Ukrainian: Ліхтар Джека (Lixtar Džeka)

See also

• will o' the wisp