libre

English

Etymology

Sense 1 (“especially of the will: free, independent”) is borrowed from French libre (“at liberty, free; clear, free, vacant; free, without obligation”), from Latin līber (“free, unrestricted”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lewdʰ- (“people”).

Senses 2 (“(software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement”) and 3 ("not enslaved") are either borrowed from the French word or the Spanish libre (“free: not enslaved or imprisoned; without obligation; unconstrained by distrust or timidity; not containing, without”), from the same Latin etymon as above.

Pronunciation

• Sense 1:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈliːbɹə/,
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlibɹə/

  • Audio (GA)

    (file)

  • Homophone: Libra
• Sense 2:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈliːbɹə/, /-bɹeɪ/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlibɹə/, /-bɹeɪ/
• Rhymes: -iːbɹə
• Hyphenation: li‧bre

Adjective

libre (not comparable)

1. (obsolete, rare) Especially of the will: free, independent, unconstrained.
   • 1599, Alexander Hume, “Of Gods Benefites Bestowed vpon Man”, in Hymnes, or Sacred Songs, , Edinburgh: Printed by Robert Walde-graue, , →OCLC; republished as John Gardiner Kinnear, editor, Hymns and Sacred Songs,  (Bannatyne Club Publications; 41), Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Co. [for the Bannatyne Club], 1832, →OCLC, page 10:

     He [God] Adame lent a libre will to follow what he liſt, / And with his holy ſpirit, and grace his choſen dois aſſiſt: [...]

2. (software) With very few limitations on distribution or the right to access the source code to create improved versions, but not necessarily free of charge.
   • 1999 February, Alessandro Rubini, “Software Libre and Commercial Viability”, in Marjorie Richardson, editor, Linux Journal: The Monthly Magazine of the Linux Community, number 58, Seattle, Wash.: Specialized System Consultants, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 48, column 1:

     One more point leads toward Free Software in education: when students get jobs, they prefer to use tools they learned at school in order to minimize extra learning efforts. This fact should lead colleges to teach only those tools not owned by anyone—those that are libre.

   • 2005, Philippe Aigrain, “Libre Software Policies at the European Level”, in Joseph Feller, Brian Fitzgerald, Scott A. Hissam, Karim R. Lakhani, editors, Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software, Cambridge, Mass., London: MIT Press, →ISBN, pages 454–455:

     The great potential of libre software for development and social inclusion has long been emphasized. The cost aspect of it, though it might act as a driver, is only one limited aspect of the benefits of libre software in developing countries, deprived regions, or urban areas. The empowerment of persons and groups to not only use technology, but understand it, at the level and rhythm that fits them, with the resulting ability to become active contributors and to innovate are the essence of libre software.

   • 2012, Alma Swan, “Section 3. The Importance of Open Access.”, in Policy Guidelines for the Development and Promotion of Open Access (Open Guidelines Series), Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, →ISBN, section 3.2 (Levels of Open Access), page 25, column 2:

     The formal definition of Open Access, however, does require re-use rights to enable the article to be re-used in various ways (text-mined, translated into other languages, used in part in other products, etc.), [...]. This is what is known as ‘libre’ Open Access. ‘Libre’ Open Access does not yet constitute the bulk of Open Access literature. In institutional repositories the majority of articles are of the ‘gratis’ type, though a small proportion carry an appropriate (usually Creative Commons) licence and are ‘libre’.

   • 2014, Joshua M. Pearce, “Introduction to Open-source Hardware for Science”, in Open-source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs, Waltham, Mass., Kidlington, Oxfordshire: Elsevier, →ISBN, section 1.2 (What is Open Source?), pages 1–2:

     Free and open-source software (F/OSS, FOSS) or free/libre/open-source software (FLOSS) is a software that is both a free software and an open source. FOSS is a computer software that is available in source code (open source) form and that can be used, studied, copied, modified, and redistributed without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients have the same rights under which it was obtained (free or libre). Free software, software libre, or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients have the same rights under which it was obtained and that manufacturers of consumer products incorporating free software provide that software as source code.

3. (historical) Not enslaved (of a black person in a French- or Spanish-colonized area, especially New Orleans).
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:libre.

Usage notes

Sense 2 (“(software) with very few limitations on distribution or improvement”) is chiefly used to distinguish such software (also called free software) from freeware, which is distributed free of charge or gratis (the two are not mutually exclusive).

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

libre (plural libres)

1. (historical) A free (not enslaved) black person in a French- or Spanish-colonized area, especially New Orleans.
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:libre.

Coordinate terms

• affranchi

See also

References

Further reading

• free software on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• gratis versus libre on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Erbil, Liber., birle, liber

Bikol Central

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish libre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlibɾe/,
• Hyphenation: lib‧re

Adjective

líbre (Basahan spelling ᜎᜒᜊ᜔ᜍᜒ)

1. gratis; free of charge; for free
2. free; unconstrained

   Synonym: talingkas

Adverb

líbre (Basahan spelling ᜎᜒᜊ᜔ᜍᜒ)

1. gratis; free of charge; for free

Derived terms

See also

Cebuano

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish libre.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: lib‧re
• IPA^(key): /ˈlibɾe/,

Adjective

líbre (Badlit spelling ᜎᜒᜊ᜔ᜇᜒ)

1. without charge; free, gratis
2. not married; single
3. at liberty
4. without burden

Verb

líbre (Badlit spelling ᜎᜒᜊ᜔ᜇᜒ)

1. to treat, to provide someone with (food, drink, or entertainment) at one's own expense
2. to pay for another person's purchase

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French libre, from Old French libre, semi-learned form of livre (ca. 1200), from Latin līber (“free”), from Old Latin loeber, from Proto-Italic *louðeros, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lewdʰ-er-os, from *h₁lewdʰ- (“people”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /libʁ/
• Homophone: libres
• Hyphenation: libre

Adjective

libre (plural libres)

1. free, at liberty

   Un homme libre ― a free man

2. clear, free, vacant

   la voie est libre ― the way is clear

3. free, without obligation

   temps libre ― free time

4. (sports) freestyle

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Alemannic German: liiber
• → English: libre
• → Romanian: liber

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• liber

Galician

Alternative forms

• livre (reintegrationist)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlibɾe/
• Rhymes: -ibɾe
• Hyphenation: li‧bre

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese libre, livre (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin līber.

Adjective

libre m or f (plural libres)

1. free, not captive, unbound
2. void; exempt

Related terms

References

• “livre” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “liure” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “libre” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “libre” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “libre” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Etymology 2

Verb

libre

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

Hiligaynon

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish libre.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: lib‧re
• IPA^(key): /ˈlibɾɛ/

Adjective

libre

1. free; without charge; gratis

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈli.bre/
• Rhymes: -ibre
• Hyphenation: lì‧bre

Noun

libre f

1. plural of libra

Anagrams

• berli

Middle French

Etymology 1

From Old French libre, from Latin līber.

Adjective

libre m or f (plural libres)

1. free; at liberty

Descendants

• French: libre

Etymology 2

From Latin lībra.

Noun

libre f (plural libres)

1. scales

References

• libre on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Norman

Etymology

From Old French, borrowed from Latin līber (“free”).

Adjective

libre m or f

1. (Jersey) free

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan libre, borrowed from Latin librum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

libre m (plural libres)

1. book

Old French

Etymology

Semi-learned borrowing from Latin līber.

Adjective

libre m (oblique and nominative feminine singular libre)

1. free; at liberty

Descendants

• Middle French: libre
  • French: libre

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (libre)

Old Occitan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin liber. Gallo-Romance cognate with Old French livre.

Noun

libre m (oblique plural libres, nominative singular libres, nominative plural libre)

1. book

Descendants

• Occitan: libre

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlibɾe/

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ibɾe
• Syllabification: li‧bre

Etymology 1

Probably borrowed from Latin līber, from Old Latin loeber, from Proto-Italic *louðeros, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lewdʰ-er-os, from *h₁lewdʰ- (“people”).

Adjective

libre m or f (masculine and feminine plural libres)

1. free (not imprisoned or enslaved)
2. free (unconstrained by timidity or distrust)
3. free (without obligations)
4. (grammar) free (that can be unattached to another morpheme)
5. free (without; not containing)

   Synonym: sin

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• → English: libre
• → Hiligaynon: libre
• → Tagalog: libre

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

libre

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

Further reading

• “libre”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish libre. Displaced older gratis, also borrowed from Spanish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlibɾe/,

• IPA^(key): /liˈbɾe/,
• Hyphenation: lib‧re

Adjective

libre or libré (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜒᜊ᜔ᜇᜒ)

1. free; without charge; gratis

   Synonyms: walang-bayad, gratis, bigay

2. free of responsibility

   Synonyms: walang-sagutin, malaya, di-mananagot

3. safe

   Synonym: ligtas

4. vacant; not working
5. (basketball) open

Derived terms

Related terms

See also

• malaya

Noun

libre or libré (Baybayin spelling ᜎᜒᜊ᜔ᜇᜒ)

1. (colloquial) treat (to a meal, etc.)

Further reading

• “libre”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018