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Meaning of Ilocano in English:

Ilocano

Pronunciation /ˌɪləˈkɑːnəʊ/

nounIlocano, Ilocanos

  • 1A member of a people inhabiting north-western Luzon in the Philippines.

    ‘The major ethnolinguistic groups that have shaped politics in the Philippines were the Tagalogs, Ilocanos, and Pampangans of Luzon, the Cebuanos of the Visayas, and the Muslim Maranaos and Tausugs of Mindanao.’
    • ‘Like other Filipinos, Ilocanos recognize an array of supernatural beings, such as the katawtaw-an (the spirits of infants, who died unbaptized who in turn victimize newborns).’
    • ‘Captain Mead reported that Ilocanos and Pangasinans exhibited ‘a natural dislike to the Tagalogs’ and he identified the latter as ‘a disturbing element’ and blamed them for ‘forcibly driving local laborers from the camps.’’
    • ‘An example is Filipino, despite resistance from northern Ilocanos and southern Cebuanos; it is now more widely spoken than English, Ilocano, or Cebuano.’
    • ‘The trade language of the lowland Ilocano is used much in the region.’

  • 2mass noun The Austronesian language of the Ilocano, with over 5 million speakers. Also called Iloko.

    ‘An example is Filipino, despite resistance from northern Ilocanos and southern Cebuanos; it is now more widely spoken than English, Ilocano, or Cebuano.’
    • ‘Three dialects are of national importance: Cebuano in the southern islands, Ilocano in the north, and Tagalog, the language of the National Capital Region.’
    • ‘I wish I could walk up to them and curse using the many dialects of the Philippines; there's Ilocano, Cebuano, Visayan… a lot.’

adjective

  • Relating to the Ilocano or their language.

    ‘According to one Ilocano origin myth, a giant named Aran built the sky and hung the sun, moon, and stars in it.’
    • ‘By 1935, young single Ilocano men were the largest Filipino ethnic group in Hawaii.’
    • ‘Several mayors of villages in the Ilocos Norte reported that about $35,000 a month was received through the pension checks of returned Ilocanos workers and from remittances sent by fourth-wave immigrants.’
    • ‘Tagalog-speaking officers from central Luzon could not communicate with troops speaking the Ilocano dialect.’
    • ‘But when it's, say, an Ilocano, or an Igorot or some other ethnic group, also in the Philippines, they don't feel the need to say, ‘Igorot Man Shot’, or whatever.’

Origin

Philippine Spanish, from Ilocos, the name of two provinces in the Philippines.