lea

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liː/, /leɪ/
• Rhymes: -iː, -eɪ
• Homophones: lee, Lee, Leigh

Etymology 1

From Middle English legh, lege, lei (“clearing, open ground”), from Old English lēah (“clearing in a forest”) from Proto-West Germanic *lauh (“meadow”), from Proto-Germanic *lauhaz (“meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *lówkos (“field, meadow”).

Akin to Old Frisian lāch (“meadow”), Old Saxon lōh (“forest, grove”) (Middle Dutch loo (“forest, thicket”); Dutch -lo (“in placenames”)), Old High German lōh (“covered clearing, low bushes”), Old Norse lō (“clearing, meadow”).

Alternative forms

• leigh, ley, lay

Noun

lea (plural leas)

1. An open field, meadow, pasture.
   • 1750, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard:

     The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
     The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
     The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
     And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

   • 19th century, Alfred Tennyson, Circumstance

     Two children in two neighbor villages

     Playing mad pranks along the heathy leas;

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English le, lee, ley, of uncertain origin. Compare Old French lier (“to bind”), Old French laisse (“leash, cord”), Old French lïace, lïaz (“bundle”).

Noun

lea (plural leas)

1. Any of several measures of yarn; for linen, 300 yards (275 m); for cotton, 120 yards (110 m).

   Synonym: rap

2. A set of warp threads carried by a loop of the heddle.

Anagrams

• Ale, E-la, EAL, ELA, Ela, LAE, ael, ale

French

Etymology

Blend of le +‎ la.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lə.a/

Article

lea gender-neutral (plural les)

1. (neologism) the

Pronoun

lea gender-neutral (plural les)

1. (neologism) them (direct object)

   Je ne lea vois pas souvent.

   I don't see them often

Related terms

See also

• iel

Galician

Verb

lea

1. inflection of ler:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative
2. inflection of lear:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Noun

lea f (plural leas)

1. fight, quarrel

   Synonyms: liorta, briga, lida

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈle.a/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈle.a/,

Noun

lea f (genitive leae); first declension

1. (poetic) a lioness

Declension

First-declension noun.

Synonyms

• leaena

Related terms

• leō m

References

• “lea”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lea”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lea in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• lea in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “lea”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

Northern Sami

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈlea̯/

Verb

lea

1. third-person singular present indicative of leat

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

lea

1. simple past and past participle of lee

Alternative forms

• leet

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From the Old Norse verbs liða and hliða.

Alternative forms

• lee (with e infinitive)
• leda, lede

Verb

lea (present tense lear, past tense lea, past participle lea, passive infinitive least, present participle leande, imperative lea/le)

1. (transitive) to wiggle, move

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

lea n

1. definite plural of le

References

• “lea” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• ale, ela

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Verb

lea

1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of la

Sidamo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlea/
• Hyphenation: le‧a

Verb

lea

1. (intransitive) to be ripe

References

• Gizaw Shimelis, editor (2007), “lea”, in Sidaama-Amharic-English dictionary, Addis Ababa: Sidama Information and Culture department

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlea/
• Rhymes: -ea
• Syllabification: le‧a

Verb

lea

1. inflection of leer:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Swahili

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya)

  (file)

Verb

-lea (infinitive kulea)

1. to raise a child, to rear
2. to care for something (attend to the needs of)

Conjugation

Derived terms

• Verbal derivations:
  • Passive: -lelewa (“to be raised”)

Tongan

Etymology

Probably from Proto-Polynesian *leo (compare Maori reo).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /le.a/

Noun

lea

1. language; speech

   lea fakatonga ― Tongan language

Yola

Verb

lea

1. Alternative form of laave
   • 1867, “CASTEALE CUDDE'S LAMENTATION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 3, page 104:

     An lea a pariesh o Kilmannan.

     And leave the parish of Kilmannan.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 52