jack-o'-lantern

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

English

WOTD – 31 October 2007

A jack-o'-lantern.

The emoji for jack-o'-lantern. There's an entry at 🎃

Alternative forms

• jack-o-lantern, jack o'lantern, Jack O'Lantern

Etymology

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

Attested as a term for ignis fatuus in English folklore in the 1660s, mostly in East Anglia but also in southwestern England. The sense of carved pumpkin in American English is attested in 1834.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Audio (AU)

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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. It is a symbol of Halloween.
   1. A similar item made from a turnip
2. (archaic) A will o' the wisp.
   • 1871, James Russell Lowell, “My Study Windows”, in My Garden Acquaintance:

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

Quotations

• 2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance, paperback edition, page 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)

Synonyms

• (strange light): ignis fatuus, will o' the wisp, hinkypunk (West Country), Joan the wad (West Country), hobby lantern, (Hertfordshire, East Anglia), peg-a-lantern (Lancashire), Will the Smith (Shropshire), Pinket (Worcestershire), Will o' the Wikes (Norfolk), Jack-with-a-lantern (archaic)

Translations

carved pumpkin

• Arabic: قرعة مضيئة
• Armenian: Դդմից լապտեր (Ddmicʻ lapter)
• Azerbaijani: cek fənəri
• Basque: Jack Linterna, Jack-o'-lantern
• Belarusian: свяцільня Джэка (svjacilʹnja Džeka)
• Bulgarian: тиквеният фенер (tikvenijat fener)
• Chinese:

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

• Danish: græskarhoved
• Dutch: jack-o'-lantern
• Estonian: kõrvitslatern
• Finnish: kurpitsalyhty
• French: citrouille d’Halloween f, citrouille-lanterne (fr) f, Jack-o’-lantern, lanterne-citrouille
• Georgian: მნათობი ჯეკი (mnatobi ǯeḳi)
• German: Halloween-Kürbis m, Jack mit der Laterne, Jack O’Lantern
• Greek: τζακ ο' λάντερν (tzak o' lántern)
• Hebrew: ג׳ק־או־לנטרן
• Hungarian: töklámpás (hu)
• Irish: Seán na gealaí m
• Italian: zucca di Halloween f, Jack-o'-lantern, Jack della lanterna, lanterna di zucca
• Japanese: ジャックオランタン (ja) (jakku-o-rantan)
• Korean: 잭오랜턴 (jaeg-o-raenteon), 호박등 (hobakdeung)
• Norman: balle-à-leunettes (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Nynorsk: Jack-o'-lantern

• Polish: latarnia z dyni f
• Portuguese: coca (pt) f (Portugal)
• Russian: Светильник Джек (Svetilʹnik Džek), фонарь из тыквы (fonarʹ iz tykvy)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Џек-о'-Лантерн

• Spanish: calabaza de Halloween f, calabaza (es) f
• Thai: แจ็กโอแลนเทิร์น
• Ukrainian: Ліхтар Джека (Lixtar Džeka), світи́льник Дже́ка (svitýlʹnyk Džéka)
• Welsh: jac lantar

See also

• will o' the wisp