legend

See also: Legend

English

Etymology

From Middle English legende, from Old French legende, from Medieval Latin legenda (“a legend, story, especially the lives of the saints”), from Latin legenda (“things which ought to be read”), from lego (“I read”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛdʒ.ənd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

legend (countable and uncountable, plural legends)

1. An unrealistic story depicting past events.
   1. A story of unknown origin describing plausible but extraordinary past events.

      Synonym: myth

      The legend of Troy was discovered to have a historical basis.

   2. A plausible story set in the historical past, but whose historicity is uncertain.

      the legend of Robin Hood

   3. A story in which a kernel of truth is embellished to an unlikely degree.

      Synonyms: myth, tall tale

      The 1984 Rose Bowl prank has spawned many legends. Here's the real story.

   4. A fabricated backstory for a spy, with associated documents and records.

      Synonym: cover story

      According to his legend, he once worked for the Red Cross, spreading humanitarian aid in Africa.

      • 1992, Ronald Kessler, Inside the CIA, 1994 Pocket Books edition, →ISBN, page 115:

        If the documents are needed to establish "a light legend," meaning a superficial cover story, no steps are taken to make sure that if someone calls the college or motor vehicle department, the name on the document will be registered.

      • 2003, Rodney Carlisle, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Spies and Espionage, Alpha Books, →ISBN, page 105:

        Sorge solidified his own position by returning to Germany and developing a new legend. He joined the Nazi Party […] .

      • 2005, Curtis Peebles, Twilight Warriors, Naval Institute Press, →ISBN, page 25:

        Both the agent's legend and documents were intended to stand up against casual questions from Soviet citizens, such as during a job interview, or a routine police document check, such as were made at railway stations.

2. A person related to a legend or legends.
   1. A leading protagonist in a historical legend.

      Synonym: hero

      Achilles is a legend in Greek culture.

   2. A person with legend-like qualities, such as extraordinary accomplishment.

      Michael Jordan stands as a legend in basketball.

      1. (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, slang) A cool, nice or helpful person, especially one who is male.

         Synonym: brick

         I've lost my pen! —Here mate, borrow mine. —You legend.

3. A key to the symbols and color codes on a map, chart, etc.

   Synonyms: guide, key

   According to the legend on the map, that building is a school.

4. (numismatics, heraldry) An inscription, motto, or title, especially one surrounding the field in a medal or coin, or placed upon a heraldic shield or beneath an engraving or illustration.

   Synonym: inscription

5. A musical composition set to a poetical story.
6. (naval) The design and specification of a vessel.
   • 1929, Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, Inc (page 304)

     The legend displacement on the basis then in use was 48,000 tons, the corresponding standard displacement as defined by the Washington Treaty being 47,540 tons.

   • 1976, Alan Raven, ‎John Roberts, British Battleships of World War Two: The Development and Technical History of the Royal Navy's Battleships and Battlecruisers from 1911 to 1946 (page 63)

     The legend and sketch designs were submitted to the Board on 27th March 1916 and, after examining a model and the drawings, the Sea Lords generally favoured proposal 'B'; the extra weight involved being acceptable.

Derived terms

• legend in one's own lunchtime
• legend in one's own mind

• legend in one's own lifetime
• living legend
• urban legend

Related terms

• lege
• legendary

Translations

story of unknown origin describing plausible but extraordinary past events

• Albanian: gojëdhënë (sq) f(tosk), gojdhânë f(gheg), legjendë (sq) f
• Arabic: أُسْطُورَة‎ f (ʾusṭūra)

  South Levantine Arabic: خرافة‎ (ḵurāfe)

• Armenian: ավանդություն (hy) (avandutʿyun), լեգենդ (hy) (legend), առասպել (hy) (aṙaspel)
• Asturian: lleenda f
• Azerbaijani: əfsanə (az)
• Bashkir: риүәйәт (riwäyät), легенда (legenda)
• Belarusian: леге́нда f (ljehjénda)
• Bengali: কিংবদন্তি (kiṅbdônti)
• Bulgarian: леге́нда (bg) f (legénda)
• Burmese: ဒဏ္ဍာရီ (my) (dandari), သမိုင်း (my) (sa.muing:)
• Catalan: llegenda (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 傳說, 传说 (cyun⁴ syut³)

  Mandarin: 傳說 (zh), 传说 (zh) (chuánshuō)

  Min Nan: 傳說 (zh-min-nan), 传说 (thoân-soat)

• Czech: pověst (cs) f, legenda (cs) f
• Danish: legende c
• Dutch: legende (nl) f
• Esperanto: legendo
• Estonian: legend (et)
• Finnish: legenda (fi)
• French: légende (fr)
• Galician: lenda f
• Georgian: ლეგენდა (legenda)
• German: Legende (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍃𐍀𐌹𐌻𐌻 n (spill)
• Greek: θρύλος (el) m (thrýlos)
• Hebrew: אַגָּדָה‎ (he) f (agadá)
• Hindi: किंवदंती (hi) f (kimvdantī), अफ़्साना m (afsānā), रिवायत f (rivāyat)
• Hungarian: legenda (hu)
• Icelandic: sögn (is) f
• Indonesian: legenda (id), riwayat (id)
• Italian: legenda (it) f, leggenda (it) f, favola (it) f, epopea (it) f
• Japanese: 伝説 (ja) (でんせつ, densetsu)
• Kazakh: ертек (kk) (ertek), легенда (legenda), әпсана (äpsana), аңыз (kk) (añyz), әфсана (äfsana)
• Khmer: ព្រេងនិទាន (preing nitiən), រឿងព្រេង (rɨəng preing), ឥតិហាស (km) (ʼetehaah)
• Korean: 전설(傳說) (ko) (jeonseol)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: efsane (ku), dastan (ku)

• Kyrgyz: легенда (ky) (legenda)
• Lao: ຕຳນານ (lo) (tam nān)

• Latin: fabula (la) f
• Latvian: teika f, pasaka (lv), leģenda f
• Lithuanian: legenda f
• Macedonian: легенда f (legenda)
• Malay: legenda (ms), riwayat
• Malayalam: ഇതിഹാസം (ml) (itihāsaṃ)
• Maori: pūrākau, kōrero tara
• Middle English: legende
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: домог (mn) (domog)

  Mongolian: ᠳᠣᠮᠤᠭ (domug)

• Nanai: тэлунгу
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: legende (no) m

  Nynorsk: legende f

• Ojibwe: aadizokaan
• Pashto: افسانه‎ (ps) f (afsāna), روايت‎ (ps) m (rawāyat)
• Persian: افسانه‎ (fa) (afsâne), روایت‎ (fa) (revâyat)
• Polish: legenda (pl) f
• Portuguese: lenda (pt) f
• Romanian: legendă (ro) f
• Russian: леге́нда (ru) f (legénda), пове́рье (ru) n (povérʹje), сказа́ние (ru) n (skazánije), преда́ние (ru) n (predánije)
• Sanskrit: इतिहास (sa) m (itihāsá)
• Scottish Gaelic: fionnsgeul m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лѐге̄нда f, га̑тка f, ка́жа f, пре̏даја f

  Roman: lègēnda (sh) f, gȃtka (sh) f, káža (sh) f, prȅdaja (sh) f

• Sicilian: cuntu (scn) m, liggenna (scn) f, fàvula (scn) f
• Slovak: legenda f, povesť f
• Slovene: legenda (sl) f, pripoved (sl) f
• Spanish: leyenda (es) f
• Swahili: hekaya (sw)
• Swedish: legend (sv) c
• Tagalog: alamat (tl)
• Tajik: афсона (tg) (afsona), ривоят (tg) (rivoyat)
• Tatar: риваять (tt) (riwayat’), легенда (legenda)
• Thai: ตำนาน (th) (dtam-naan)
• Tibetan: གཏམ་རྒྱུད (gtam rgyud), སྒྲུང་གཏམ (sgrung gtam)
• Turkish: efsane (tr)
• Turkmen: rowaýat, legenda
• Ukrainian: леге́нда (uk) f (lehénda)
• Urdu: افسانہ‎ m (afsānā), روایت‎ (ur) f (rivāyat)
• Uyghur: رىۋايەت‎ (riwayet), ئەپسانە‎ (epsane)
• Uzbek: afsona (uz), rivoyat (uz), legenda
• Vietnamese: truyền thuyết (vi), huyền thoại (vi)
• Welsh: chwedl (cy) f, chwedlau (cy) f pl
• Yiddish: לעגענדע‎ f (legende)

any person of extraordinary accomplishment

• Arabic: بَطَل‎ m (baṭal), بَطَلَة‎ f (baṭala)
• Bulgarian: леге́нда (bg) f (legénda)
• Catalan: llegenda (ca) f
• Esperanto: legendo, legendulo
• Finnish: legenda (fi)
• French: légende (fr) f
• Galician: lenda f
• Greek: θρύλος (el) m (thrýlos)
• Hungarian: legenda (hu)
• Italian: legenda (it) f, mito (it) m, mostro sacro m, leggenda (it) f

• Malay: lagenda
• Malayalam: ഇതിഹാസം (ml) (itihāsaṃ)
• Polish: legenda (pl) f
• Portuguese: lenda (pt) f
• Russian: леге́нда (ru) f (legénda)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лѐге̄нда f

  Roman: lègēnda (sh) f

• Spanish: leyenda (es) f
• Turkish: efsane (tr), kahraman (tr)
• Vietnamese: huyền thoại (vi)

key to the symbols and color codes on a map

• Arabic: مِفْتَاح خَرِيطَة‎ m (miftāḥ ḵarīṭa)
• Bulgarian: леге́нда (bg) f (legénda)
• Catalan: llegenda (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 圖例 (zh), 图例 (zh) (túlì)

• Dutch: kaartlegenda
• Finnish: selitykset pl, selite (fi)
• French: légende (fr) f
• Galician: lenda f
• German: Kartenlegende f
• Greek: επεξήγηση (el) f (epexígisi), λεζάντα (el) f (lezánta), υπόμνημα (el) n (ypómnima)
• Hebrew: מִקְרָא‎ (he) m (mikrá)
• Hungarian: jelmagyarázat (hu), jelkulcs
• Italian: legenda (it) f

• Japanese: 凡例 (ja) (はんれい, hanrei)
• Korean: 범례(凡例) (ko) (beomnye)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: symboler pl, tegnforklaring m

• Polish: legenda (pl) f
• Portuguese: legenda (pt)
• Romanian: legendă (ro) f
• Russian: леге́нда (ru) f (legénda)
• Slovene: legenda (sl) f
• Spanish: leyenda (es) f, simbología (es) f
• Swedish: teckenförklaringar pl
• Thai: สัญลักษณ์ (th) (sǎn-yá-lák)
• Turkish: lejant (tr)
• Vietnamese: chú giải (vi)

Verb

legend (third-person singular simple present legends, present participle legending, simple past and past participle legended)

1. (archaic, transitive) To tell or narrate; to recount.
   • c. 1600, Joseph Hall, Satires

     Nor ladie's wanton love , nor wand'ring knight,
     Legend I out in rymes all richly dight

Further reading

• legend in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• legend in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Participle

legend

1. present participle of legen

Declension

Inflection of legend
uninflected	legend
inflected	legende
		positive
predicative/adverbial		legend legende
indefinite	m./f. sing.	legende
	n. sing.	legend
	plural	legende
definite		legende
partitive		legends

Anagrams

• gelden, gleden, legden

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German

Participle

legend

1. present participle of legen

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛ.ɡɛnt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɡɛnt
• Syllabification: le‧gend

Noun

legend

1. genitive plural of legenda

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Swedish

Etymology

From Medieval Latin legenda

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /le.ɡend/, [lə.ˈɡɛnd]

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

legend c

1. legend

Declension

Declension of legend
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	legend	legenden	legender	legenderna
Genitive	legends	legendens	legenders	legendernas

References

legend in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• degeln