321 nationalities, countries and regions

1 introduction
In order to refer to a nation or region and its affairs it is usually necessary to
know four words:
• the nam e of the country or region
D enm ark Japan France Catalonia
• the adjective
Danish Japanese French Catalan
• the singular n o u n used for a person from the country
a Dane a Japanese a Frenchm an/wom an a Catalan
• the plural expression the . . . used for the population as a whole
the Danes the Japanese the French the Catalans
Usually the singular n o u n is the sam e as the adjective (e.g. Greek, Mexican).
The plural expression is usually the sam e as the adjective + -s (e.g. the Greeks,
the Mexicans); w ords ending in -ese, and Swiss, rem ain unchanged for plural
m eanings (e.g. the Japanese; the Swiss). ►321.2 below for m ore examples.
However, there are a nu m ber of exceptions. Some of these are listed in 321.3.
All words of this kind (including adjectives) begin with capital letters.
American literature ( n o t american literature)
The nam e of a national language is often the sam e as the national adjective.
Danish is difficult to pronounce. Do you speak Japanese?

2 Examples
C oun try /region Adjective Perso n Pop ulatio n

America (the American an American the Americans

United States)
Belgium Belgian a Belgian the Belgians
Brazil Brazilian a Brazilian the Brazilians
Europe European a European the Europeans
Italy Italian an Italian the Italians
Kenya Kenyan a Kenyan the Kenyans
Morocco Moroccan a Moroccan the M oroccans
Norway Norwegian a Norwegian the Norwegians
Palestine Palestinian a Palestinian the Palestinians
Russia Russian a Russian the Russians
Greece Greek a Greek the Greeks
Iraq Iraqi an Iraqi the Iraqis
Israel Israeli an Israeli the Israelis
Thailand Thai a Thai the Thais
China Chinese a Chinese the Chinese
(person)
Congo Congolese a Congolese the Congolese
(person)
Portugal Portuguese a Portuguese the Portuguese
(person)
Switzerland Swiss a Swiss the Swiss

vocabulary • 321 nationalities, countries and regions

 Vocabulary Areas Section 29

exceptions
Adjective Perso n Population
C ountry/reg io n
British a British person the British
Britain
( a l s o Briton)
English an Englishm an/ the English
England
wom an
French a Frenchm an/w om an the French
France
Irish an Irishm an/w om an the Irish
Ireland
Spanish a Spaniard the Spanish
Spain
Dutch a D utchm an/w om an the Dutch
the N etherlands /
Holland
Welsh a W elshm an/w om an the Welsh
Wales
Danish a Dane the Danes
Denm ark
Finnish a Finn the Finns
Finland
Polish a Pole the Poles
Poland
Scottish, Scotch a Scot the Scots
Scotland
Swedish a Swede the Swedes
Sweden
Turkish a Turk the Turks
Turkey

Notes
Scottish is the usual word for the people and culture of Scodand; Scotch is used
for whisky.
The word Briton is unusual except in new spaper headlines - for example TWO
BRITONS KILLED IN AIR CRASH. Brit is som etim es used informally.
English is n ot the sam e as British, and is not used for Scottish, Welsh or Irish
people (► 411).
English (the nam e of the language) can be used in the plural to talk about
varieties of English, for instance World Englishes.
Although American is the norm al English word for United States citizens and
affairs, people from other parts of the American continent may object to this use,
and som e people avoid it for this reason.
Inuit is now considered a m ore respectful term than Eskimo for the Arctic races
of N orthern Canada and elsewhere.
Arabic is used for the language spoken in Arab countries; in other cases, the
norm al adjective is Arab. Arabian is used in a few fixed expressions and place
nam es (e.g. Saudi Arabian, the Arabian Sea).
Note the pronunciation of words like Irishm an/m en, D utchm an/m en. the
singular is the sam e as the plural (/'airij'm on, 'dAtJrnan/).

vocabulary • 321 nationalities, countries and regions