Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🧑🏿 A person from Sierra Leone 🌍 From Sierra Leone
Sierra Leonean

Sierra Leonean

1 5.0
A person who comes from Sierra Leone
  • noun
  • /siˈɛrə lɪˈoʊniən/
translation icon : sierra leoneano
  • Sierra Leoneans found Liberian's pronunciation of bulgur wheat—buggowee—amusing and it is probably why the expression persisted.
  • Sierra Leonean refugee

Examples

  • Many Sierra Leoneans have dedicated their lives to promoting education and peace in their country.

  • Sierra Leoneans vote this weekend in the country's third election since the end of its brutal civil war.

    Blog text (6)

  • In the case of Sierra Leonean refugee children in Guinea, caretakers, also known as foster families, take children in who have been separated from their families.

    Academic text (2001)

  • An example is Guinea, West Africa, where IRC manages a formal schooling system for Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Chernor Bah, a Sierra Leonean youth leader, shared this quote during the recent launch of Education First, a new initiative by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

    Blog text (20)

  • UNESCO has funded multiple Ghanaian and Nigerian hip hop artists to play for Liberian and Sierra Leonean audiences to bring awareness of the plight of child soldiers.

    Academic text (2009)

  • The Sierra Leonean community gathered to celebrate their national holiday in Freetown.

  • A Sierra Leonean artist displayed his work at an international gallery in Paris.

How Specific

Sierra Leonean
1 5.0
West African
10 3.5
African
172 1.0

Surface Forms

Sierra Leonean singular
Sierra Leoneans plural

Morphology

Sierra + Leonean

This adjective is a regular demonym formed from the country name 'Sierra Leone' with the productive English suffix -an, so its meaning 'relating to Sierra Leone or its people/culture' follows directly from the constituents. Even if 'Leonean' is not listed as a standalone lemma, B1 learners who know the country name (or the parts 'Sierra' + 'Leone') will readily infer the relation; demonym formation is a common, cross-linguistic pattern.

Etymology

Sierra Leonean comes from the country name 'Sierra Leone', which may come from old Portuguese words meaning 'mountain of lions'. The parts Sierra 'mountain' and Leone 'lion' give a clear image, so a Sierra Leonean is 'a person from Sierra Leone'.