les

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK, US), IPA(key): /lɛz/
    • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛz

Noun[edit]

les (plural leses)

  1. (slang, colloquial, derogatory) Clipping of lesbian.

Adjective[edit]

les (comparative more les, superlative most les)

  1. (slang, colloquial, derogatory) Clipping of lesbian.

Anagrams[edit]

Afrikaans[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Dutch les (lesson), from Middle Dutch lesse, from Latin lēctiō.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

les (plural lesse, diminutive lessie)

  1. lesson

Aragonese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin ille (that one).

Pronoun[edit]

les

  1. them (indirect object)

Synonyms[edit]

Asturian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin illas.

Article[edit]

les f pl (masculine sg el, feminine sg la, neuter sg lo, masculine plural los)

  1. (definite) the

Catalan[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Inherited from Latin illās, from ille.

Pronunciation[edit]

Article[edit]

les f pl (masculine plural els, masculine singular el, feminine singular la)

  1. the; feminine plural definite article

Pronoun[edit]

les (enclitic and proclitic)

  1. them (feminine, direct object)
Declension[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Borrowed from Latin laesus.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

les (feminine lesa, masculine plural lesos, feminine plural leses)

  1. (law) harmed
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Czech[edit]

Czech Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia cs

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Old Czech les, from Proto-Slavic *lěsъ.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

les m inan

  1. forest
    Synonym: hvozd

Declension[edit]

Related terms[edit]

nouns
adjectives
proverb

Further reading[edit]

  • les in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
  • les in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
  • les in Internetová jazyková příručka

Danish[edit]

Noun[edit]

les c

  1. indefinite genitive singular of le

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle Dutch lesse, from Latin lēctiō.

Noun[edit]

les f (plural lessen, diminutive lesje n)

  1. course, lesson
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
  • Afrikaans: les
  • Caribbean Javanese: lès
  • Indonesian: les
  • Papiamentu: lès, les

Etymology 2[edit]

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb[edit]

les

  1. inflection of lessen:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. imperative

Anagrams[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • les” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Middle French les, from Old French les, from Latin illōs m and illās f which are the accusative plurals of ille.[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

Article[edit]

les

  1. plural of le: the
  2. plural of la: the

Usage notes[edit]

  • de les is never used: contracted into des.
  • à les is never used: contracted into aux.

Pronoun[edit]

les m pl or f pl

  1. plural of le: them
  2. plural of la: them

Related terms[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Dauzat, Albert with Jean Dubois, Henri Mitterand (1964) “le, la, les”, in Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique (in French), Paris: Librairie Larousse

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Galician[edit]

Verb[edit]

les

  1. second-person singular present indicative of ler

German[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

les

  1. (colloquial) first-person singular present of lesen
    Synonym: (standard) lese
  2. (colloquial) singular imperative of lesen
    Synonym: (standard) lies

Hungarian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Ugric *läćɜ (hiding place; lurk).[1][2] Cognates include Southern Mansi [script needed] (lǟš-), Northern Mansi [script needed] (lāś-).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

les (plural lesek)

  1. cover, hideaway, ambush (the place where one is concealed, in wait to attack by surprise, or the act of concealing oneself there)
    Synonyms: lesállás, leshely
    Hypernyms: búvóhely, rejtekhely, (hiding place in general) rejtek
  2. (hunting) hide, blind
  3. (soccer) offside
    Synonyms: lesállás, leshelyzet

Declension[edit]

Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony)
singular plural
nominative les lesek
accusative lest leseket
dative lesnek leseknek
instrumental lessel lesekkel
causal-final lesért lesekért
translative lessé lesekké
terminative lesig lesekig
essive-formal lesként lesekként
essive-modal
inessive lesben lesekben
superessive lesen leseken
adessive lesnél leseknél
illative lesbe lesekbe
sublative lesre lesekre
allative leshez lesekhez
elative lesből lesekből
delative lesről lesekről
ablative lestől lesektől
non-attributive
possessive - singular
lesé leseké
non-attributive
possessive - plural
leséi lesekéi
Possessive forms of les
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. lesem leseim
2nd person sing. lesed leseid
3rd person sing. lese lesei
1st person plural lesünk leseink
2nd person plural lesetek leseitek
3rd person plural lesük leseik

Derived terms[edit]

Expressions

Verb[edit]

les

  1. (transitive) to spy, peep, peek, pry
  2. (transitive) to stare, goggle, eye
  3. (transitive, intransitive) to cheat at a test by looking at someone else's work

Conjugation[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

(With verbal prefixes):

References[edit]

  1. ^ Entry #1792 in Uralonet, online Uralic etymological database of the Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics.
  2. ^ les in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN.  (See also its 2nd edition.)

Further reading[edit]

  • (ambush): les in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
  • (to spy): les in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Icelandic[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

les n (genitive singular less, nominative plural les)

  1. (linguistics) lexeme (set of inflected forms taken by a single word)
  2. (computing) lexeme (individual instance of a continuous character sequence without spaces, used in lexical analysis)

Declension[edit]

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]

Verb[edit]

les

  1. first-person singular of lesa (to read)
    Ég les mikið af þýskum bókum.
    I read a lot of German books.
  2. third-person singular of lesa (to read)
    Pálmi les alltaf sömu söguna, þótt hann eigi margar bækur.
    Pálmi always reads the same story, even though he has many books.

Indonesian[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Dutch les (course, lesson), from Middle Dutch lesse, from Latin lēctiō.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [ˈlɛs]
  • Hyphenation: lès

Noun[edit]

lès (first-person possessive lesku, second-person possessive lesmu, third-person possessive lesnya)

  1. (education, colloquial) cram school, private tuition.

Verb[edit]

lès

  1. (education, colloquial) to cram, to study hard, to learn at cram school.

Etymology 2[edit]

From Dutch lis (reed).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [ˈlɛs]
  • Hyphenation: lès

Noun[edit]

lès (first-person possessive lesku, second-person possessive lesmu, third-person possessive lesnya)

  1. rein.

Etymology 3[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [ˈləs]
  • Hyphenation: lês

Noun[edit]

lês (first-person possessive lesku, second-person possessive lesmu, third-person possessive lesnya)

  1. alternative spelling of lis

Further reading[edit]

Interlingua[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

les

  1. (dative) to them

Usage notes[edit]

  • Precedes conjugated verbs.
  • Can be of mixed gender (not just masculine).

Ladin[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin illas.

Article[edit]

les f (plural)

  1. the

See also[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old English lēas (false, void, loose).

Cognate with Middle High German lōs (loose), Old Swedish lø̄s (loose); a doublet of loos.

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

les

  1. false; lying; deceptive

Noun[edit]

les (uncountable)

  1. falsehood; a lie
    • 15th c., “[The Creation]”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: [] Oxford University Press, 1897, →OCLC, page 5, lines 120–121:
      He is so fayre, withoutten les, / he semys full well to sytt on des.
      He is so good, without falsehood; / (so) he's really suited to sit on a dais.
    • c. 1480, “The Creation”, in The Towneley Plays, lines 158–159:
      We held with hym ther he saide leasse / And therfor have we all unpeasse.
      We stayed with him when he uttered untruth, / and therefore we all feel discord.
    • c. 1480, “The Creation”, in The Towneley Plays, lines 193–195:
      Ye shall have joye and blis therin / Whils ye will kepe you out of syn, / I say withoutten lese.
      You'll have joy and tranquility within / if you keep yourself out of sin, / I say, without lies.

Middle French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

from Old French les, from Latin illōs m and illās f

Article[edit]

les m pl or f pl (masculine singular le, feminine singular la)

  1. the

Descendants[edit]

Norman[edit]

Norman Definite Articles
singular plural
masculine le / l' les
feminine  la / l' les

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (file)

Article[edit]

les pl (singular , and la)

  1. Alternative form of l's
    les boutonsthe nipples
    les êpicesthe spices
    les lédgeunmesthe vegetables
    les ridgieauxthe curtains
    • 2013 March, Geraint Jennings, “Mar martello”, in The Town Crier[1], archived from the original on 13 March 2016, page 20:
      Dans les clios étout nou vait des tracteurs et des machinnes tandi qu'lé travas du fèrmyi r'prend san rhythme coumme tréjous.
      In the fields tractors and machines can be seen too as farm work picks up again as always.

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Verb[edit]

les

  1. imperative of lese

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Verb[edit]

les

  1. present tense of lesa
  2. imperative of lesa

Old Czech[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *lěsъ.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

les m inan

  1. forest
    Synonym: hvozd

Declension[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Old French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin illas and illos.

Article[edit]

les

  1. the (feminine plural oblique definite article)
  2. the (feminine plural nominative definite article)
  3. the (masculine plural oblique definite article)

Inflection[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Old Irish[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

les

  1. third-person singular masculine of la
Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

les m

  1. Alternative spelling of less (benefit, advantage)

Mutation[edit]

Old Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Nasalization
les
also lles after a proclitic
les
pronounced with /l(ʲ)-/
unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Old Slovak[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *lě̑sъ. First attested in 1386.

Noun[edit]

les m inan

  1. forest, woods (dense uncultivated tract of trees)

Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

  • Majtán, Milan et al., editors (1991–2008), “les”, in Historický slovník slovenského jazyka [Historical Dictionary of the Slovak Language] (in Slovak), volumes 1–7 (A – Ž), Bratislava: VEDA, →OCLC

Rohingya[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Compare with Bengali লেজ (lej).

Noun[edit]

les

  1. tail

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Bulgarian лес (les).

Noun[edit]

les n (plural lesuri)

  1. (Oltenia) thicket

Declension[edit]

References[edit]

  • les in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Serbo-Croatian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *lěsъ (tree, forest).

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

lȇs m (Cyrillic spelling ле̑с)

  1. coffin
  2. (regionally) lumber
  3. (regionally) forest, woods
Declension[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From German Löss.

Noun[edit]

lȇs m (Cyrillic spelling ле̑с)

  1. (geology) loess

Slovak[edit]

Slovak Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sk

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Old Slovak les, from Proto-Slavic *lěsъ.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

les m inan (genitive singular lesa, nominative plural lesy, genitive plural lesov, declension pattern of dub)

  1. forest

Declension[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • les”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

Slovene[edit]

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sl

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Slavic *lěsъ.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

lẹ̑s m inan

at v lesu
to v les
from iz lesa
  1. (uncountable) wood
    Synonyms: lesovina, lesnina, lesna snov
  2. (uncommon, uncountable) trees in a forest[→SSKJ]
    Synonyms: drevo, drev
  3. (usually in the plural, archaic or literary) forest, woods
    Synonyms: gozd, boršt, gmajna, gaj, gošča, gozdek, gozdič, gozdiček, gozdni labirint, hosta, lesovje, log, loza, šuma
  4. (Christianity, rare) cross
    Synonyms: križ, krucifiks

Declension[edit]

The template Template:sl-decl-noun-table3 does not use the parameter(s):
n=
Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.

First masculine declension (hard o-stem, inanimate, -ov- infix) , long mixed accent
nom. sing. lẹ̑s
gen. sing. lesȃ
singular dual plural
nominative
imenovȃlnik
lẹ̑s lesȏva lesȏvi
genitive
rodȋlnik
lesȃ lesóv lesóv
dative
dajȃlnik
lẹ̑su, lẹ̑si lesȏvoma, lesȏvama lesȏvom, lẹ̑sȏvam
accusative
tožȋlnik
lẹ̑s lesȏva lesȏve
locative
mẹ̑stnik
lẹ̑su, lẹ̑si lesȏvih lesȏvih
instrumental
orọ̑dnik
lẹ̑som lesȏvoma, lesȏvama lesȏvi
(vocative)
(ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)
lẹ̑s lesȏva lesȏvi



  • stylistically marked
The template Template:sl-decl-noun-table3 does not use the parameter(s):
n=
Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.

First masculine declension (hard o-stem, inanimate) , fixed accent
nom. sing. lẹ̑s
gen. sing. lẹ̑sa
singular dual plural
nominative
imenovȃlnik
lẹ̑s lẹ̑sa lẹ̑si
genitive
rodȋlnik
lẹ̑sa lẹ̑sov lẹ̑sov
dative
dajȃlnik
lẹ̑su, lẹ̑si lẹ̑soma, lẹ̑sama lẹ̑som, lẹ̑sam
accusative
tožȋlnik
lẹ̑s lẹ̑sa lẹ̑se
locative
mẹ̑stnik
lẹ̑su, lẹ̑si lẹ̑sih, lẹ̑sah lẹ̑sih, lẹ̑sah
instrumental
orọ̑dnik
lẹ̑som lẹ̑soma, lẹ̑sama lẹ̑si
(vocative)
(ogȏvorni imenovȃlnik)
lẹ̑s lẹ̑sa lẹ̑si


Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • les”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
  • les”, in Termania, Amebis
  • See also the general references

Spanish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /les/ [les]
  • Rhymes: -es
  • Syllabification: les

Etymology 1[edit]

Inherited from Latin illīs, dative plural of ille.

Pronoun[edit]

les

  1. dative of ellos and ellas; to them, for them
  2. dative of ustedes; to you all, for you all (formal)
  3. (gender-neutral, neologism) dative of elles; to them, for them
    Les pedí que por favor hagan silencio.
    I asked them to please be quiet.

See also[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Gender-neutral e replaces the gendered endings/elements a and o.

Article[edit]

les gender-neutral pl

  1. (gender-neutral, neologism) the (plural)
    Les estudiantes están prestando atención a la clase.
    The students are paying attention to the class.

Tok Pisin[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English lazy.

Adjective[edit]

les

  1. lazy
  2. tired, fed up

Verb[edit]

les

  1. be lazy
  2. be tired, be fed up

Welsh[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Borrowed from English lace.

Noun[edit]

les f (plural lesau, not mutable)

  1. lace (light fabric patterned with holes)

Etymology 2[edit]

Borrowed from Middle English lease, from Anglo-Norman les, from Old French lais, lez (a lease).

Noun[edit]

les f (plural lesoedd, not mutable)

  1. lease
Alternative forms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun[edit]

les

  1. Soft mutation of lles.

Further reading[edit]

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “les”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Mutation[edit]

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
lles les unchanged unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.