Cornish

How to spell cornish

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce cornish

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does cornish mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to Cornwall, its people, culture, or produce.
2. nounThe Celtic language historically spoken in Cornwall, now being revived.

Cornish in a sentence

• adjective

  The bakery is famous for its cornish pasties.

• noun

  A small group of enthusiasts meets weekly to learn cornish.

• adjective

  They spent the holiday exploring the rugged cornish coastline.

• noun

  Many local place names are derived from cornish.

Where does cornish come from?

Language of origin: Celtic

This word is the adjective form of Cornwall, the south-western county of England, with the familiar Germanic suffix -ish meaning 'belonging to' or 'in the manner of'. The 'Corn' element traces back to the Cornovii, an ancient Celtic people whose name is often linked to a Celtic root for 'horn', a fitting description of the long, horn-shaped peninsula they inhabited. To this the Anglo-Saxons added 'wealas', their Old English word for foreigners or Britons (the same element that gave us 'Wales'), producing Cornwall, literally the land of the Cornish Britons. By dropping the 'wall' and attaching -ish, English speakers formed a tidy adjective in the same pattern as 'Scottish' or 'British'. Because the place name supplies the single 'n' and the simple -ish ending, the spelling is straightforward once the link to Cornwall is kept in mind.

How the word is built

• corn- (from Cornwall, the place name)
• -ish (adjective/language suffix meaning 'belonging to')