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Glite Dictionary
jackeen accent

jackeen accent

9.9
A way of speaking English used by people from Dublin, Ireland
  • noun
  • Irish
translation icon : acento dublines
  • When she spoke, her jackeen accent instantly revealed her Dublin roots.

Examples

  • The podcast host spoke in a lively jackeen accent throughout the interview.

  • People often recognized his jackeen accent when he traveled outside of Dublin.

  • Her jackeen accent gave her away at the pub.

  • I love the jackeen accent of Dublin.

  • Do you find the jackeen accent charming?

  • His jackeen accent made everyone realize he was a local in the city.

  • I could identify the jackeen accent from miles away; it's so unique to Dublin.

Surface Forms

jackeen accent singular
jackeen accents plural

Morphology

jackeen + accent

The noun 'accent' is transparent, but the key element 'jackeen' is an obscure lexical/cultural label (a demonym/slang for Dubliners) that is not predictable from its form and is not a general English word a B1 learner would infer. Because understanding the phrase requires specific lexical or cultural knowledge of 'jackeen', the overall expression is not derivable from its parts.

Etymology

Jackeen accent may come from the name Jack plus the Irish ending -een, which makes a word mean 'little'. One popular story says this 'little Jack' idea, sometimes linked to the 'Union Jack' flag, was used for Dublin people and their way of speaking, so jackeen accent now means the Dublin accent.