Löwe

See also: lowe and Lowe

German

Alternative forms

• Leu (archaic; poetic)

Etymology

From Middle High German lewe, löuwe, lauwe, from Old High German lewo, lēo, from Proto-West Germanic *lewo, *lēwo (“lion”).

The spelling -ew- in Middle High German generally represents a diphthong [øy̯(w)], and accordingly the expected form in Modern German is Leu(e) (cf. freuen). The form Löwe with a monophthong and consonantal -w- is most readily explained from a long-vowel variant lēwe, which would correspond to Dutch leeuw.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈløːvə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Lö‧we

Noun

Löwe m (weak, genitive Löwen, plural Löwen, diminutive Löwchen n, feminine Löwin)

1. lion
2. (heraldry) lion, as used on a coat of arms
3. (astronomy, astrology, singular only, no female or feminine form) Leo

Declension

Declension of Löwe [masculine, weak]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Löwe	die	Löwen
genitive	eines	des	Löwen	der	Löwen
dative	einem	dem	Löwen	den	Löwen
accusative	einen	den	Löwen	die	Löwen

Hyponyms

• Berberlöwe (“Barbary lion”)
• Berglöwe
• Höhlenlöwe (“cave lion”)
• Kaplöwe (“Cape lion”)
• Löwenjunges (“lion cub”)
• Löwenmännchen
• Löwenweibchen
• Löwin (“lioness”)

Related terms

• gut gebrüllt, Löwe
• Höhle des Löwen
• Löwenanteil
• Löwenauge
• Löwenfuß
• Löwengarten
• Löwengrube
• Löwenherz
• Löwenhöhle
• Löwenkopf
• Löwenmähne
• Löwenmaul
• Löwenschwanz
• löwenstark
• Löwenstimme
• Löwentatze
• Löwenzahn
• Seelöwe
• Wächterlöwe

See also

Zodiac signs in German (layout · text)
Widder	Stier	Zwillinge	Krebs
Löwe	Jungfrau	Waage	Skorpion
Schütze	Steinbock	Wassermann	Fische

Further reading

• “Löwe”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)
• “Löwe” in Duden online
• “Löwe” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
• Friedrich Kluge (1883), “Löwe”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891