lek

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See also Lek, lék, and lęk

Contents

English[edit]

WOTD – 6 April 2012    
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Wikipedia

Pronunciation[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Germanic roots meaning "play". In the biology sense, it comes specifically from Swedish lek (“child's play”) in 1871, by means of Swedish leka (“to play”).

Noun[edit]

lek (plural leks)

  1. (biology) An aggregation of male animals for the purposes of courtship and display.
    • 1975, Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, figure caption, 2000, page 333,
      Each of the three displaying cocks occupies a small territory at the mating center of the lek.
    • 1997, John Kricher, A Neotropical Companion, ISBN 0-691-00974-0, page 278:
      Given that a combination of factors have "released" males from attending nests, why have some species organized their courtship bouts in leks, especially the tightly clumped leks that are typical of manakins and cocks-of-the-rock?
    • 2007, Kentwood D. Wells, The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians, page 352,
      Nevertheless, it does appear that many of the processes of mate choice and sexual selection described for bird and mammal leks also apply to anuran choruses.
Translations[edit]
an aggregation of male animals for the purposes of courtship and display

Verb[edit]

lek (third-person singular simple present leks, present participle lekking, simple past and past participle lekked)

  1. (biology) To take part in the courtship and display behaviour of a lek.
    • 1994, M. B. Andersson, Sexual Selection, page 164,
      Males in many lekking species have conspicuous morphological ornaments that may be targets of female choice, but male contest competition may also be involved.
    • 2000, George Barlow, The Cichlid Fishes: Nature's Grand Experiment In Evolution, page 79,
      The second reason lekking is so fascinating is because the males aggregate.
    • 2010, Boaz Yuval, Jorge Hendrichs 17: Behavior of Fruit Fly in the Genus Ceratitis (Dacinae: Ceratitidini), Martin Aluja, Allen Norrbom (editors), Fruit Flies (Tephritidae): Phylogeny and Evolution of Behavior, page 437,
      In a recent study (Yuval et al. 1998), the size and weight of males captured either lekking or resting at the same time in the vicinity of leks were measured.
    • 2010, Robert Michael Pyle, Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year, unnumbered page,
      Half a dozen of the thumbnail-size males lekked in a sunny glade.
  2. (UK, dialect, Yorkshire, colloquial) To play.
    T’lads are lekkin in t’park.
Translations[edit]
to take part in the courtship and display behaviour of a lek

Usage notes[edit]

The Yorkshire dialect word is rarely written and is pronounced differently in the different Ridings of Yorkshire. Compare laik, layk.

Etymology 2[edit]

From Albanian lek.

Noun[edit]

lek (plural leks or lekë)

  1. The currency unit of Albania, divided into 100 qindarka.
    • 1992, Mario I. Bléjer, Albania: From Isolation Toward Reform, page 56,
      With the loss of control by the Government over foreign exchange surrender requirements and the almost complete depletion of foreign exchange reserves, in early 1992 the official rate was further devalued to leks 50 = $1.
    • 1997, Igor Artimiev, Gary J. Fine, Country Studies: Albania, Ira W. Lieberman, Stilpon S. Nestor, Raj M. Desai, Between State and Market: Mass Privatization in Transition Economies, page 178,
      Enterprise shares are sold at voucher auctions in exchange for either immaterial privatization leks (through a bank transfer from the bidder's privatization lek account) or through privatization vouchers, which are submitted at the time of bidding.
    • 2003, Iraj Hoshi, Ewa Balcerowicz, Leszek Balcerowicz, Barriers to Entry and Growth of New Firms in Early Transition, page 253,
      Value Added Tax is another tax imposed on all enterprises with a yearly turnover of more than 2 million Leks. VAT was introduced in the Albanian tax system in 1995 replacing the old turnover tax.
Translations[edit]
currency of Albania

Anagrams[edit]

Albanian[edit]

Noun[edit]

lek

  1. the local currency unit

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

lek n (plural lekken, diminutive lekje)

  1. leak

Adjective[edit]

lek (comparative lekker, superlative lekst)

  1. leaky

Declension[edit]

Declension of lek
positive comparative superlative
attributive predicative/adverbial
predicative/adverbial lek lekker
neuter
singular		 indefinite lek lekker
definite lekke lekkere lekste lekst, lekste
common singular lekke lekkere lekste lekste
plural lekke lekkere lekste lekste
partitive leks lekkers

Verb[edit]

lek

  1. first-person singular present indicative of lekken
  2. imperative of lekken

Anagrams[edit]

Lojban[edit]

Rafsi[edit]

lek

  1. rafsi of lenku.

Polish[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Noun[edit]

lek m

  1. medicine
Declension[edit]
    declension of lek
singular plural
nominative lek leki
genitive leku leków
dative lekowi lekom
accusative lek leki
instrumental lekiem lekami
locative leku lekach
vocative leku leki
Synonyms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Albanian lek

Noun[edit]

lek m

  1. lek (currency)
Declension[edit]
    declension of lek
singular plural
nominative lek leki
genitive leku leków
dative lekowi lekom
accusative lek leki
instrumental lekiem lekami
locative leku lekach
vocative leku leki

Serbo-Croatian[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Slavic *lěkъ, borrowed from Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍃 (lekeis, “physician”)[1]. Compare Old Norse læknir, Old High German lahhi, Danish læge.

Noun[edit]

lȇk m (Cyrillic spelling ле̑к)

  1. medicine

Declension[edit]

    declension of lek
singular plural
nominative lek lekovi
genitive leka lekova
dative leku lekovima
accusative lek lekove
vocative leku / leče lekovi
locative leku lekovima
instrumental lekom lekovima

References[edit]

  1. ^ Petar Skok, Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika, Z., 1971, v. 2, p. 296: Obično se uzimlje da je praslavenska riječ posuđena iz gotske radne imenice lekeis

Slovene[edit]

Noun[edit]

lek m inan.

  1. medicine

Swedish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

lek c

  1. child's play; typically denotes pleasurable and less rule-bound games and activities
  2. deck of cards

Declension[edit]

Declension of lek
singular plural
Common indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative lek leken lekar lekarna
genitive leks lekens lekars lekarnas

Related terms[edit]

Verb[edit]

lek

  1. imperative of leka.

Tok Pisin[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English leg.

Noun[edit]

lek

  1. leg, foot
    • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Genesis 3:15 (translation here):
      Na bai mi mekim yu i stap birua bilong meri, na meri i stap birua bilong yu. Na bai mi mekim ol lain bilong yu i birua long lain bilong meri. Bai ol i krungutim het bilong yu, na bai yu kaikaim lek bilong ol.”
  2. footprint


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