[ 'fi:nɪən ]
■ noun
1》 a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a 19th-century revolutionary nationalist organization among the Irish in the US and Ireland.
2》 informal, offensive (chiefly in Northern Ireland) a Protestant name for a Catholic.
Derivatives
~ism noun
Origin
from Old Ir. féne , the name of an ancient Ir. people, confused with fíann , fianna 'band of warriors', in particular the soldiers of the legendary king Finn MacCool.