lei

See also: Lei, lēi, léi, lěi, Lěi, lèi, and leí

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: lā, IPA^(key): /leɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophones: lay, ley

Etymology 1

From Hawaiian lei

Noun

lei (plural leis)

1. A garland of flowers in Hawaii.

Derived terms

• haku lei

Translations

garland of flowers in Hawaii

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: lei (fi)

• Hawaiian: lei
• Russian: ле́и n (léi), лей (ru) m (lej)
• Tagalog: ley

See also

• Lei (Hawaii) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Romanian lei

Noun

lei

1. plural of leu

Anagrams

• %ile, -ile, Eli, Ile, LIE, Lie, ile, lie

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Bourguignon

Alternative forms

• (Morvan) leu

Etymology

From Latin locus.

Noun

lei m (plural leis)

1. place

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛi̯
• IPA^(key): /lɛi/

• Audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

Noun

lei f (plural leien, diminutive leitje n)

1. (uncountable) slate (material)
2. (countable) slate (object)

Derived terms

• leien
• leisteen
• met een schone lei herbeginnen

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch leide, with a change gi > i similar to that seen in brein.

Verb

lei

1. (archaic) singular imperative of leggen

Anagrams

• iel

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Finnish

Noun

lei

1. A lei (Hawaiian garland of flowers).
2. (nonstandard, obsolete) A leu (unit of currency of Romania and Moldova).

Declension

Inflection of lei (Kotus type 18/maa, no gradation)
nominative		lei	leit
genitive		lein	leiden leitten
partitive		leitä	leitä
illative		leihin	leihin
		singular	plural
nominative		lei	leit
accusative	nom.	lei	leit
	gen.	lein
genitive		lein	leiden leitten
partitive		leitä	leitä
inessive		leissä	leissä
elative		leistä	leistä
illative		leihin	leihin
adessive		leillä	leillä
ablative		leiltä	leiltä
allative		leille	leille
essive		leinä	leinä
translative		leiksi	leiksi
instructive		—	lein
abessive		leittä	leittä
comitative		—	leineen

Synonyms

• (unit of currency): leu

See also

• kukkaseppele

Anagrams

• eli, lie

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Friulian

Etymology

From Latin legere, present active infinitive of legō.

Verb

lei (past participle let)

1. to read

Related terms

• letôr
• leture
• lezion

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Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lei/

Etymology 1

From Old Portuguese lei, ley, from earlier lee, from Latin lex, lēgem, from Proto-Italic *lēg-, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-s < *leǵ-.

Noun

lei f (plural leis)

1. law (clarification of this definition is needed)
2. religion, credence, worship of a god

Related terms

• leal

Etymology 2

Noun

lei m pl

1. plural of leu

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Hawaiian

Noun

lei (ka)

1. lei, a wreath of flowers or leaves
2. necklace
3. ( by extension ) child, carried on the shoulders like a lei

Verb

lei

1. to leap

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Italian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *illei or *illaei, which is a Vulgar Latin form of Classical Latin illī (dative singular of illa). The Vulgar Latin form *illei is modelled under influence of Vulgar Latin *illūi, whence also lui. The formal address Lei appears in the 16th century in connection with Signoria (“Lordship”), Eccellenza (“Excellency”), Santità (“Holiness”) and Magnificenza, replacing the earlier Voi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [lɛːi]

Pronoun

lei f (plural loro, masculine lui)

1. she
2. her
3. it
   • 1320, Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, Amadeo Augusto Lange (1788), page 161:

     La pioggia cadde, e a’ foſſati venne / Di lei ciò che la terra non ſofferſe

     The rain fell and into the channels ran / Whatever of it was not absorbed by the ground

   • ca. 1349-1353, Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, Tipografia della Società Belgica (1841), page 228:

     […] videro il drappo, et in quello la testa, non ancor sì consumata, che essi alla capellatura crespa non conoscessero lei esser quella di Lorenzo.

     […] they saw the cloth and the head wrapped inside it, which was not yet sufficiently decomposed that they could not help but identify it, from the curly hair, as being Lorenzo’s.

   • ca. 1349-1353, Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, Tipografia della Società Belgica (1841), page 512:

     […] Filomena in ciò che dell’amistà dice, racconta il vero, e con ragione nel fine delle sue parole si dolse lei oggi così poco da’ mortali esser gradita.

     […] Philomena is in the right as to what she has said upon friendship; and it was with reason she complained, last of all, of its being in such little esteem with mankind […]

   • 1984, Stefano Benni, Stranalandia, Feltrinelli (2015), page 76:

     La banana di Stranalandia è alla base dell’economia dell’isola. Senza di lei la vita qui sarebbe molto dura.

     The banana of Strangeland forms the basis of the island’s economy. Without it, life here would be very tough.

Synonyms

• ella
• essa

Related terms

• colei

Pronoun

lei m (plural loro)

1. (formal) you

   Synonym: voi (uncommon)

Derived terms

• a lei
• dare del lei

Alternative forms

• Lei

See also

Italian personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative	Reflexive	Accusative	Dative	Locative	Genitive	Disjunctive
Singular	first	—	io	mi, m', -mi			—		me
	second	—	tu	ti, t', -ti					te
	third	m	lui	si2, s', -si	lo, l', -lo	gli, -gli	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'	lui, sé
		f 1	lei, Lei1		la, l', La1, -la	le3, Le1, -le			lei, Lei1, sé
Plural	first	—	noi	ci, c', -ci			—		noi
	second	—1	voi, Voi1	vi, v', -vi, Vi1					voi, Voi1
	third	m	loro, Loro1	si, s', -si	li, -li	gli, -gli, loro (formal), Loro1	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'	loro, Loro1, sé
		f 1			le, -le
1	The feminine gender third person forms and second plural person forms are also used as formal terms of address referring to second singular person subjects, sometimes capitalised as Lei, Vi, Loro etc. to distinguish them.
2	Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
3	In informal speech sometimes replaced with gli (nonstandard).

• dare del lei

Anagrams

• eli

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Luxembourgish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑɪ̯/

Verb

lei

1. second-person singular imperative of leien

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Mandarin

Romanization

lei (Zhuyin ˙ㄌㄟ)

1. Pinyin transcription of 嘞

lei

1. Nonstandard spelling of lēi.
2. Nonstandard spelling of léi.
3. Nonstandard spelling of lěi.
4. Nonstandard spelling of lèi.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

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Northern Sami

Pronunciation

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈlej/

Verb

lei

1. third-person singular past indicative of leat

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Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /læɪ̯/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse leiðr.

Adjective

lei (masculine and feminine lei, neuter leit, definite singular and plural leie, comparative leiere, indefinite superlative leiest, definite superlative leieste)

1. uncomfortable, bothersome
2. bored, tired
3. sad, unfortunate

Etymology 2

From Old Norse leið.

Noun

lei f or m (definite singular leia or leien, indefinite plural leier, definite plural leiene)

1. direction
2. distance

Etymology 3

Alternative forms

• (of lide) led

Verb

lei

1. simple past of lide
2. imperative of leie

References

• “lei” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /læɪ/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse leið.

Noun

lei f (definite singular leia, indefinite plural leier, definite plural leiene)

1. (maritime) route, sea route (a route, mostly along a coastline or between islands, that is safe to sail)
2. direction

Etymology 2

From Old Norse leiðr.

Adjective

lei (masculine and feminine lei, neuter leitt, definite singular and plural leie, comparative leiare, indefinite superlative leiast, definite superlative leiaste)

1. tired, fed up, bored
2. awkward, uncomfortable

lei seg

1. sad

Etymology 3

Verb

lei

1. imperative of leie

References

• “lei” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Old French

Alternative forms

• lai
• loi
• leye
• laye

Etymology

From Latin lex, legem.

Noun

lei f (oblique plural lez, nominative singular lei, nominative plural lez)

1. a law

Related terms

• leal

Descendants

• Middle French: loy
  • French: loi
    • ⇒ Haitian Creole: lalwa
• Norman: louai

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Portuguese

Alternative forms

• ley (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old Portuguese lei, ley, from earlier lee, from Latin lex, lēgem, from Proto-Italic *lēg-, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-s < *leǵ-.

Cognate with Galician lei, Spanish ley, Catalan llei, Occitan lei, French loi, Italian legge and Romanian lege.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈlej/
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈlɐj/, /ˈlej/
• Hyphenation: lei

Noun

lei f (plural leis)

1. law
   • 1572, Luís Vaz de Camões, Os Lusíadas, 1th canto:

     E aqueles, que por obras valerosas / Se vão da lei da morte libertando.

     And those who by valourous deeds free themselves from the law of Death.

Related terms

• leal
• legal
• legítimo
• lídimo

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lej/

Noun

lei m pl

1. plural of leu

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Sardinian

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish ley, from Latin lex, legem.

Noun

lei

1. (Campidanese) law

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Scots

Verb

lei (third-person singular present leis, present participle leiin, past leid, past participle leid)

1. (South Scots) Alternative form of lee.

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Spanish

Noun

lei m pl

1. plural of leu