league

See also: League

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liːɡ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːɡ

Etymology 1

From Middle English liege, ligg, lige (“a pact between governments, an agreement, alliance”), from Middle French ligue, from Italian lega, from the verb legare, from Latin ligō (“I tie”).

Noun

league (plural leagues)

1. A group or association of cooperating members.

   the League of Nations

   • (Can we date this quote by Denham and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     And let there be / 'Twixt us and them no league, nor amity.

2. An organization of sports teams which play against one another for a championship.

   My favorite sports organizations are the National Football League and the American League in baseball.

3. (informal) rugby league

   Are you going to watch the league tonight?

4. (often in the negative) A class or type of people or things that are evenly matched or on the same level.

   Forget about dating him; he's out of your league.

   We're not even in the same league.

5. A prefecture-level administrative unit in Inner Mongolia (Chinese: 盟).

Derived terms

• bush league
• in a league of one's own
• in league
• League of Nations
• major league
• minor league
• non-league
• out of one's league

 

Translations

a group or association of cooperating members

• Arabic: عُصْبَة f (ʕuṣba), اِتِّحَاد (ar) m (ittiḥād)
• Armenian: լիգա (hy) (liga)
• Belarusian: лі́га f (líha), аб'ядна́нне n (abʺjadnánnje), саю́з m (sajúz)
• Bulgarian: ли́га (bg) f (líga), съю́з (bg) m (sǎjúz)
• Catalan: lliga (ca) f
• Cherokee: ᎤᎾᏙᏢᎯ (unadotlvhi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 同盟 (zh) (tóngméng), 聯盟／联盟 (zh) (liánméng), 联盟 (zh) (liánméng)

• Czech: liga (cs) f, třída (cs) f, svaz (cs) m
• Finnish: liitto (fi)
• French: ligue (fr) f
• Georgian: ლიგა (liga)
• German: Liga (de) f, Bund (de) n
• Greek: σύνδεσμος (el) m (sýndesmos), ένωση (el) f (énosi)

  Ancient: ἀρθμός m (arthmós)

• Hungarian: szövetség (hu), liga (hu)
• Irish: conradh m
• Italian: lega (it)
• Japanese: 連盟 (ja) (れんめい, renmei), 同盟 (ja) (どうめい, dōmei)
• Korean: 연맹 (ko) (yeonmaeng), 련맹 (ko) (ryeonmaeng) (North Korea), 동맹 (ko) (dongmaeng)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: līga (lv) f
• Lithuanian: lyga (lt) f
• Macedonian: лига f (liga)
• Maori: rīki
• Polish: liga (pl) f, przymierze (pl) n
• Portuguese: aliança (pt) f, liga (pt) f
• Romanian: alianță (ro) f, coaliție (ro) f, ligă (ro)
• Russian: ли́га (ru) f (líga), сою́з (ru) m (sojúz), объедине́ние (ru) n (obʺjedinénije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ли́га f

  Roman: líga (sh) f}

• Slovak: liga (sk) f, trieda f, zväz m
• Slovene: liga (sl) f
• Spanish: alianza (es) f, liga (es) f
• Swedish: liga (sv) c, förbund (sv) n
• Thai: พันธมิตร (pan-tá-mít)
• Ukrainian: лі́га f (líha), спі́лка (uk) f (spílka), об'є́днання (uk) n (obʺjédnannja), сою́з m (sojúz)
• Vietnamese: hội (vi), đồng minh (vi), liên minh (vi), liên đoàn (vi)
• Welsh: cynghrair m or f

organization of sports teams

• Armenian: լիգա (hy) (liga)
• Belarusian: лі́га f (líha)
• Catalan: lliga (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聯盟／联盟 (zh) (liánméng), 联盟 (zh) (liánméng)

• Czech: liga (cs) f
• Finnish: liiga (fi)
• French: ligue (fr) f
• German: Liga (de) f
• Hebrew: לִיגָה f (líga)
• Hungarian: liga (hu)
• Italian: lega (it)
• Japanese: リーグ (rīgu)
• Korean: 리그 (ko) (rigeu)
• Latvian: līga (lv) f
• Lithuanian: lyga (lt) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Luhya: eligi
• Maori: rīki
• Occitan: liga f
• Polish: liga (pl) f
• Portuguese: liga (pt) f
• Romanian: ligă (ro) f
• Russian: ли́га (ru) f (líga)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ли́га f

  Roman: líga (sh) f

• Slovene: liga (sl) f
• Spanish: liga (es) f
• Swahili: ligi (sw)
• Swedish: liga (sv) c, förbund (sv) n
• Turkish: lig (tr)
• Ukrainian: лі́га f (líha)
• Welsh: cynghrair f

Verb

1. To form an association; to unite in a league or confederacy; to combine for mutual support.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of South to this entry?)

Translations

to form an association

• Catalan: alligar (ca)
• Finnish: muodostaa liitto
• Greek: συνασπίζομαι (el) (synaspízomai)
• Hungarian: szövetséget köt, szövetkezik (hu)
• Polish: sprzymierzać się, sprzymierzyć się
• Portuguese: associar-se
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: a se alia, a se coaliza
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: коали́рати

  Roman: koalírati (sh)

• Spanish: asociarse (es)

Etymology 2

From Middle English lege (“league”), from Late Latin leuca, leuga (“the Gaulish mile”), from Gaulish, from Proto-Celtic *lewgā (compare Middle Breton leau, Welsh lew, Breton lev / leo (“league”)).

Noun

league (plural leagues)

1. (measurement) The distance that a person can walk in one hour, commonly taken to be approximately three English miles (about five kilometers).
   • (Can we date this quote by M. Le Page Du Pratz and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?), History of Louisiana (PG), p. 47

     Seven leagues above the mouth of the river we meet with two other passes, as large as the middle one by which we entered.

2. A stone erected near a public road to mark the distance of a league.

Translations

distance

• Bulgarian: ле́вга (bg) f (lévga)
• Catalan: llegua f
• Esperanto: leŭgo
• French: lieue (fr) f
• Galician: legua f
• German: Wegstunde (de) f, Meile (de) f (obsolete), Leuge f (obsolete)
• Greek: λεύγα (el) f (lévga)
• Hebrew: לִיגָה f (líga)
• Italian: lega (it)
• Maori: rīki
• Persian: فرسخ (fa) (farsax)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: légua (pt) f
• Romanian: leghe (ro)
• Russian: лье (ru) n (lʹje), ли́га (ru) f (líga), льё f (lʹjo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ли́га f

  Roman: líga (sh) f

• Spanish: legua (es) f
• Turkish: fersah (tr)
• Walloon: eure (wa) f

References

• Online Etymology, league
• Middle English Dictionary, lege