Adjectivals and Demonyms For Countries and Nations

The following is a list of adjectival forms of countries and nations in English and their demonymic equivalents. A country adjective describes something as being from that country, for example, "Italian cuisine" is "cuisine of Italy". A country demonym denotes the people or the inhabitants of or from there, for example, "Germans" are people of or from Germany.

Note: Demonyms are given in plural forms. Singular forms simply remove the final 's' or, in the case of -ese endings, are the same as the plural forms. The ending -men has feminine equivalent -women (e.g. an Irishman and a Scotswoman). The French terminations -ois / ais serve as both the singular and plural masculine; adding 'e' (-oise / aise) makes them singular feminine; 'es' (-oises / aises) makes them plural feminine. The Spanish termination "-o" usually denotes the masculine and is normally changed to feminine by dropping the "-o" and adding "-a". The plural forms are usually "-os" and "-as" respectively.

Adjectives ending in -ish can be used as collective demonyms (e.g. the English, the Cornish). So can those ending in -ch / -tch (e.g. the French, the Dutch) provided they are pronounced with a 'ch' sound (e.g. the adjective Czech does not qualify).

Many place-name adjectives and many demonyms refer also to various other things, sometimes with and sometimes without one or more additional words. (Sometimes, the use of one or more additional words is optional.) Notable examples are cuisines, cheeses, cat breeds, dog breeds, and horse breeds. (See List of words derived from toponyms.)

a Formerly known as Upper Volta.
b Also known as Myanmar.
c Sometimes considered offensive.
d The penultimate syllable is stressed.
e The second syllable is stressed.
f Rare and/or archaic.
g There is no adjective or demonym that distinguishes the Republic of Ireland from the entire island of Ireland. When distinction from Northern Ireland is necessary, the colloquial Southern Irish or Southerner is sometimes used; some people in the Republic of Ireland may find this offensive, though others in Northern Ireland may find it equally offensive in not distinguishing the Republic of Ireland from the island. As an alternative, an adjectival phrase may be used – for instance, "a law of the Republic of Ireland" – or, as a last resort, the name "Republic of Ireland" may be used as if it were an adjective (as in "a Republic of Ireland law").
h Scotch is only normally used for manufactured products of Scotland, most commonly food and drink - in most other contexts it is archaic and often considered mildly derogatory. Scottish is used for everything else.
i In near-universal use, though many adjectives for U.S. citizens have been proposed.
j In near-universal use, though many alternative words for American have been proposed.