leu

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.uː/

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.

• -ule, Elu, Lue, lue, ule

• lei

From Latin locus.

leu m (plural leus)

1. (Morvan) place

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈlɛw]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [ˈlew]

leu m (plural leus)

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

• “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.

From Romanian leu.

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

leu

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

• lei

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

• lue

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

• Audio

  (file)

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu (currency of Romania)

• “leu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• élu, lue

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu

leu

1. third-person singular preterite indicative of ler

leu

1. past participle of lire

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛw/

From Latin lupus.

• lou, lu

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

1. wolf (animal)

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

From Latin locus.

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

• endroit

• Middle French: lieu
  • French: lieu

• IPA^(key): [lʲeu̯]

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 [me]

   • 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 [even] that he could not; therefore that is the expectation with testing.

From Spanish lejos and French loin .

leu

1. far

• Hyphenation: leu

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

leu m (plural leus)

1. leu (currency unit of Romania and Moldova)

leu

1. third-person singular preterite indicative of ler

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

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)[1]; 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[2]; see also piastru (English piastre). Compare also the sense of currency with Bulgarian лев (lev).

• IPA^(key): /lew/

• Audio

  (file)

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.

• leoaică
• leoaie

Derived from Romanian leu (“lion”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛu̯/
• Homophone: lev

leu m inan (nominative plural lei)

1. leu (currency of Romania)

• This noun can also be undeclined.

• “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

Borrowed from Romanian leu.

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu

• leû

From Old French leu, from Latin lupus.

• IPA^(key): /løː/

leu m (plural leus)

1. wolf

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