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Glite Dictionary
🪶 Iroquois tribes group 🏉 Rugby tournament
Six Nations

Six Nations

3.5
An annual rugby tournament between England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales
  • noun
translation icon : Seis Naciones
  • Did you watch the Six Nations match last weekend?

Examples

  • Fans from Ireland and France traveled together to watch the final Six Nations match.

  • The match at Twickenham could decide who tops the Six Nations this season.

  • England's team aims to win the Six Nations title again this year.

  • The Six Nations tournament starts in February each year.

  • The Six Nations championship brings together England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales every year.

  • Fans from all over Europe eagerly anticipate the Six Nations rugby tournament each spring.

  • Last year, Wales won the Six Nations after an exciting final match against England.

Surface Forms

Six Nations singular
Six Nations plural

Morphology

six + nation

A B1 learner who knows 'six' and 'nation' will readily get the literal meaning 'six countries', so the components are transparent, but they will not be able to deduce that the phrase refers to a specific annual rugby championship without world knowledge. As a proper-name for a sporting event the full, conventionalized meaning is not predictable from the parts, making the expression only partially transparent.

Etymology

Six Nations as the rugby name comes from the six countries that compete—England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales—so people can easily picture six teams playing each year. That's why 'Six Nations' now means the annual rugby championship between those countries.