leu

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Romanian leu (“lion”), from Latin leō (“lion”). Doublet of Leo, lev, lion, and Lyon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.uː/

Noun

leu (plural lei)

1. The unit of currency of Romania, equal to one hundred bani.
2. The unit of currency of Moldova, equal to one hundred bani.

Translations

Anagrams

• -ule, Elu, Lue, lue, ule

Bourguignon

Alternative forms

• lei

Etymology

From Latin locus.

Noun

leu m (plural leus)

1. (Morvan) place

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Noun

leu m (plural leus)

1. leu (currency of Romania)
2. leu (currency of Moldova)

Further reading

• “leu” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “leu”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “leu” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

Finnish

Etymology

From Romanian leu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈleu̯/,
• Rhymes: -eu
• Syllabification^(key): leu

Noun

leu

1. leu (unit of currency of Romania and Moldova)

Declension

Synonyms

• lei

Further reading

• “leu”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

Anagrams

• lue

French

Etymology

From Romanian leu (“lion”). Doublet of lion.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu (currency of Romania)

Further reading

• “leu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Anagrams

• élu, lue

Galician

Noun

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu

Verb

leu

1. third-person singular preterite indicative of ler

Middle French

Verb

leu

1. past participle of lire

Old French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛw/

Etymology 1

From Latin lupus.

Alternative forms

• lou, lu

Noun

leu oblique singular, m (oblique plural leus, nominative singular leus, nominative plural leu)

1. wolf (animal)

Descendants

• French: loup
• French: à la queue leu leu

Etymology 2

From Latin locus.

Noun

leu oblique singular, m (oblique plural leus, nominative singular leus, nominative plural leu)

1. place
   • c. 1180, Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot ou le Chevalier de la charrette:

     Se vos alez par autre leu

     If you go by another place

   • 1260–1267, Brunetto Latini, “Cist premiers livres parole de la naissance de toutes choses [This first book talks about the birth of all things]” (chapter 1), Livre I - Premiere partie, in Livres dou Tresor [Book of Treasures]; republished as Polycarpe Chabaille, compiler, Li livres dou tresor par Brunetto Latini‎, Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1863, page 1:

     si come li sires qui vuet en petit leu amasser choses de grandisme vaillance […] por acroistre son pooir […] i met il les plus chieres choses et les plus precieux joiaus que il puet, selonc sa bone entencion, tout autressi est li cors de cest livre compilez de sapience

     Just like the lord, who wants to accumulate very valuable things in a tiny place in order to increase his power, puts there—according to his good intention—the dearest things and the most precious jewels he can, so the body of this book is filled with knowledge

Synonyms

• endroit

Derived terms

• Middle French: lieu
  • French: lieu

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Pronoun

leu

1. third-person plural accusative of la
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 5^b20

     trisin intamail sin .i. combad ǽt leu buid domsa i n-iriss et duús in intamlitis

     through that imitation, i.e. so that there may be jealousy with them for me to be in faith and if by chance they might imitate

   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 97^d10

     Is peccad díabul lesom .i. fodord doib di dommatu, ⁊ du·fúairthed ní leu fora sáith din main, ⁊ todlugud inna féulæ ɔ amairis nánda·tibérad Día doïb, ⁊ nach coimnacuir ⁊ issi dano insin ind frescissiu co fochaid.

     It is a double sin in his opinion, i.e. the murmuring by them of want, although there remained some of the manna with them upon their satiety, and demanding the meat with faithlessness that Good would not give it to them, and that he could not; therefore that is the expectation with testing.

Papiamentu

Etymology

From Spanish lejos and French loin .

Adjective

leu

1. far

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: leu

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Romanian leu (“leu; lion”).

Noun

leu m (plural leus)

1. leu (currency unit of Romania and Moldova)

Etymology 2

Verb

leu

1. third-person singular preterite indicative of ler

Romanian

Alternative forms

• леу (leu) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

Etymology

Probably a later learned borrowing from Latin leō (“lion”) (around the 17th century), itself from Ancient Greek λέων (léōn). If inherited from the nominative form, the expected result in Romanian would have been *ieu (as iepure from leporem); furthermore, all the other Romance cognates were derived from the accusative form leōnem or genitive leōnis (and some were borrowings themselves). Cf. also lăun and Lăune(le) (“a river in Romania”), as well as leoaie.

For the name of the currency, it was probably based on the Dutch leeuwendaalder (“lion thaler/dollar”), which depicted a lion; cf. daalder, also German Löwenthaler. This traces back to the 17th century, when the Dutch currency was used in the Romanian principalities. Another explanation gives the origin of this sense as a calque of Turkish arslan (“lion”), which was also used to refer to a type of currency with a lion on it; see also piastru (English piastre). Compare also the sense of currency with Bulgarian лев (lev).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lew/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

leu m (plural lei)

1. lion
   • 2001, Bartolomeu Anania, transl., Biblia Ortodoxă, 1 Peter 5:8:

     Fiți treji, privegheați. Potrivnicul vostru, diavolul, umblă, răcnind ca un leu, căutând pe cine să înghită

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. leu (the Romanian unit of currency)
   • 2003, Constituția României, article 137:

     Moneda națională este leul, iar subdiviziunea acestuia, banul.

     The national currency is leu and its subdivision is ban.

Declension

Quotations

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!

Derived terms

• leoaică
• leoaie

References

Slovak

Etymology

Derived from Romanian leu (“lion”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛu̯/
• Homophone: lev

Noun

leu m inan (nominative plural lei)

1. leu (currency of Romania)

Usage notes

• This noun can also be undeclined.

Further reading

• “leu”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Romanian leu.

Noun

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu

Walloon

Alternative forms

• leû

Etymology

From Old French leu, from Latin lupus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /løː/

Noun

leu m (plural leus)

1. wolf

References

• “Leu” in Laurent Remacle, Dictionnaire wallon-français (1852).
• “Leu” in Joseph Hubert, Dictionnaire wallon-liégeois et français (1853).