Wiktionary:Word of the day/2025/February 12

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for February 12

leonine adj

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a lion; lionlike. (pathology) Of a facies (“a person's facial features”): resembling those of a lion as a result of some disease, especially a form of leprosy which causes leontiasis (“a medical condition characterized by an overgrowth of the cranial and facial bones”); also, of leprosy: causing a lionlike facies. [...] Of or pertaining to one of the popes named Leo; specifically (in Leonine City), to Pope Leo IV (790–855) who ordered the building of a wall around Vatican Hill to protect what is now Vatican City. (poetry) Being or relating to a kind of medieval Latin verse, generally alternative hexameter and pentameter, with rhyming at the middle and end of a line (that is, internal rhyme); also (by extension), of or relating to modern verse having internal rhyme. leonine n (poetry) Chiefly in the plural: synonym of Leonine verse (“a kind of medieval Latin verse, generally alternative hexameter and pentameter, with rhyming at the middle and end of a line (that is, internal rhyme)”) We are having a holoalphabetic month—each day features a term starting with a different letter of the alphabet (and two numbers)!

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →