lesson

English

Etymology

From Middle English lessoun, from Old French leçon, from Latin lēctiō, lēctiōnem (“a reading”), from legō (“I read, I gather”). Doublet of lection.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛsn̩/
• Homophone: lessen
• Hyphenation: les‧son

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsən

Noun

lesson (plural lessons)

1. A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.

   In our school a typical working week consists of around twenty lessons and ten hours of related laboratory work.

2. A learning task assigned to a student; homework.
3. Something learned or to be learned.

   Nature has many lessons to teach to us.

4. Something that serves as a warning or encouragement.

   I hope this accident taught you a lesson!

   The accident was a good lesson to me.

5. A section of the Bible or other religious text read as part of a divine service.

   Here endeth the first lesson.

6. A severe lecture; reproof; rebuke; warning.
   • 1590, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the page number)”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Covntesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] William Ponsonbie, OCLC 801077108; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, OCLC 318419127:

     She would give her a lesson for walking so late.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:

     The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; […] . Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.

7. (music) An exercise; a composition serving an educational purpose; a study.

Synonyms

• lear
• (religious reading): lection

Derived terms

• life lesson

• object lesson

• teach someone a lesson

Related terms

• lectern

• lection

• lecture

Translations

section of learning or teaching

• Albanian: mësim (sq) m
• Amharic: ትምህርት (təmhərtə)
• Arabic: دَرْس‎ (ar) (dars)

  Egyptian Arabic: درس‎ m (dars)

• Armenian: դաս (hy) (das)
• Azerbaijani: dərs (az)
• Baluchi: سبک‎ (sabak), سبق‎ (sabaq), درس‎ (dars)
• Bashkir: дәрес (däres), (rare) һабаҡ (habaq)
• Basque: ikasgai
• Belarusian: уро́к (be) m (urók), ўрок m (ŭrok), ле́кцыя f (ljékcyja)
• Bengali: শিক্ষা (bn) (śikkha), পাঠ (paṭh)
• Breton: kentel (br) f
• Bulgarian: уро́к (bg) m (urók)
• Burmese: သင်ခန်းစာ (my) (sanghkan:ca)
• Catalan: lliçó (ca) f
• Chechen: дарс (dars)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 課業 (zh), 课业 (zh) (kèyè), -課 (zh), -课 (zh) (-kè) (suffix)

• Czech: lekce (cs), vyučovací hodina
• Dutch: les (nl)
• Esperanto: leciono
• Estonian: õppetund
• Finnish: oppitunti (fi), luento (fi)
• French: leçon (fr) f
• Friulian: lezion f, lizion f
• Georgian: გაკვეთილი (gaḳvetili)
• German: Lehrstunde (de) f, Stunde (de) f, Lektion (de) f, Unterricht (de) m
• Greek: μάθημα (el) n (máthima)

  Ancient: μάθημα n (máthēma)

• Hawaiian: haʻawina
• Hebrew: שיעור / שִׁעוּר‎ (he) m (shi'úr)
• Hindi: पाठ (hi) m (pāṭh), सबक़ m (sabaq)
• Hungarian: lecke (hu), óra (hu), tanóra (hu)
• Icelandic: kennslustund f
• Indonesian: pelajaran (id)
• Interlingua: lection
• Irish: ceacht m
• Italian: lezione (it) f
• Japanese: 授業 (ja) (じゅぎょう, jugyō), 学科 (ja) (がっか, gakka), 課 (ja) (-か, -ka) (suffix), レッスン (ja) (ressun)
• Kalmyk: кичәл (kiçäl)
• Kazakh: сабақ (kk) (sabaq), дәріс (däris)
• Khmer: មេរៀន (mee riən)
• Korean: 수업 (ko) (sueop), -과 (ko) (gwa) (suffix)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دەرس‎ (ku) (ders)

• Kyrgyz: сабак (ky) (sabak), дарыс (ky) (darıs)
• Lao: ບົດຮຽນ (lo) (bot hīan)
• Latin: documentum n, auditio f
• Latvian: mācība f, stunda f

• Lithuanian: pamoka (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Stonn f, Lektioun f
• Macedonian: лекција f (lekcija)
• Malay: pengajaran, pelajaran
• Maltese: lezzjoni f
• Manx: lessoon m
• Maori: akoranga
• Mongolian: хичээл (mn) (khicheel)
• Ngazidja Comorian: darasa 9 or 10
• Norman: léçon f (Jersey), leçaon f (Guernsey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: undervisningstime m

  Nynorsk: undervisingstime m

• Occitan: leiçon (oc) f, lecçon f
• Oromo: barumsa
• Pashto: درس‎ (ps) m (dars), لوست‎ m (lwəst), سبق‎ (ps) m (sabáq)
• Persian: درس‎ (fa) (dars)
• Plautdietsch: Oppgow f
• Polish: lekcja (pl) f
• Portuguese: lição (pt) f
• Romanian: lecție (ro) f
• Russian: уро́к (ru) m (urók), ле́кция (ru) f (lékcija) (lecture)
• Sanskrit: पाठ (sa) m (pāṭha)
• Scottish Gaelic: leasan m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лекција f

  Roman: lekcija (sh) f

• Slovak: lekcia f
• Slovene: lekcija f
• Spanish: lección (es) f
• Swahili: funzo (sw)
• Swedish: lektion (sv) c
• Tajik: дарс (tg) (dars)
• Tatar: дәрес (tt) (däres), гыйбрәт (tt) (ğıybrät)
• Telugu: పాఠం (te) (pāṭhaṃ)
• Thai: บทเรียน (th) (bòt-riian)
• Tibetan: སློབ་ཚན (slob tshan)
• Tigrinya: ትምህርቲ (təmhərti)
• Turkish: ders (tr), çimke (tr), sebak
• Turkmen: sapak, ders
• Tuvan: кичээл (kiçeel)
• Ukrainian: уро́к m (urók), ле́кція f (lékcija)
• Urdu: درس‎ (dars), سبق‎ m (sabaq)
• Uyghur: دەرس‎ (ders)
• Uzbek: dars (uz), saboq (uz)
• Vietnamese: bài (vi), bài học (vi)
• Volapük: lärnod (vo)
• Welsh: gwers (cy) f
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Yiddish: אויפֿגאַבע‎ f (oyfgabe), לעקציע‎ f (lektsye)
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

learning task assigned to a student

• Armenian: դաս (hy) (das)
• Bashkir: дәрес (däres), (homework) өйгә эш (öygä eš)
• Danish: lektie c
• Finnish: läksy (fi), kotitehtävä (fi), tehtävä (fi)
• French: devoirs (fr) m pl
• German: Schularbeit (de) f, Hausaufgabe (de) f
• Greek: μαθήματα (el) n pl (mathímata), εργασία (el) f (ergasía), άσκηση (el) f (áskisi)
• Hawaiian: haʻawina
• Hebrew: שיעורים‎ m (shiorim)
• Hindi: पाठ (hi) m (pāṭh)
• Hungarian: lecke (hu), házi feladat (hu)
• Irish: ceacht m
• Kalmyk: кичәл (kiçäl)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دەرس‎ (ku) (ders)

• Manx: lessoon m
• Maori: akoranga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lekse f or m

  Nynorsk: lekse f

• Persian: تکلیف‎ (fa)
• Plautdietsch: Oppgow f
• Portuguese: lição (pt) f, tarefa (pt) f
• Russian: уро́к (ru) m (urók)
• Scottish Gaelic: leasan m
• Swahili: somo (sw)
• Swedish: läxa (sv) c
• Telugu: పాఠం (te) (pāṭhaṃ)
• Tuvan: кичээл (kiçeel)

something learned

• Arabic: دَرْس‎ (ar) m (dars)
• Armenian: դաս (hy) (das)
• Bashkir: һабаҡ (habaq)
• Bulgarian: урок (bg) m (urok)
• Czech: ponaučení
• Finnish: opetus (fi)
• French: leçon (fr) f
• German: Lehre (de) f
• Greek: δίδαγμα (el) n (dídagma), μάθημα (el) n (máthima)
• Hebrew: מוסר השכל‎ (he) m (musar haskel), לקח‎ (he) m (leqach)
• Irish: ceacht m
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دەرس‎ (ku) (ders)

• Latin: documentum n, auditio f

• Luxembourgish: Léier f
• Manx: lessoon m
• Maori: akoranga
• Portuguese: lição (pt)
• Romanian: lecție (ro)
• Russian: уро́к (ru) m (urók)
• Scottish Gaelic: leasan m
• Swahili: funzo (sw)
• Swedish: läxa (sv) c
• Tuvan: кичээл (kiçeel)
• Vietnamese: bài học (vi)
• Volapük: lärnod (vo)

something that serves as a warning or encouragement

• Armenian: դաս (hy) (das)
• Azerbaijani: ibrət
• Basque: eskarmentu
• Bulgarian: поука (bg) f (pouka)
• Czech: ponaučení
• Finnish: läksy (fi), opetus (fi)
• French: leçon (fr) f
• German: Lehre (de) f
• Greek: μάθημα (el) n (máthima)
• Hebrew: לקח‎ (he) m (lékakh)
• Hungarian: tanulság (hu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: دەرس‎ (ku) (ders)

• Latin: documentum n, auditio
• Luxembourgish: Léier f

• Manx: lessoon m
• Maori: iro (an unpleasant experience)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lærepenge m

  Nynorsk: lærepenge m

• Portuguese: lição (pt) f
• Romanian: lecție (ro)
• Russian: уро́к (ru) m (urók)
• Scottish Gaelic: leasan m
• Swahili: funzo (sw)
• Swedish: läxa (sv) c
• Turkish: ibret (tr)
• Vietnamese: bài học (vi)

section of the Bible or other religious text read as part of a divine service

• Esperanto: legaĵo
• Finnish: sana (fi)
• French: lecture (fr) f
• Hungarian: szentlecke
• Irish: ceacht m

• Latin: lectio f
• Maori: tuhinga
• Portuguese: lição (pt) f
• Spanish: lección (es) f
• Swahili: funzo (sw)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Old Occitan: ^{(please verify)} leyçon

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} lección (es) f

Verb

lesson (third-person singular simple present lessons, present participle lessoning, simple past and past participle lessoned)

1. To give a lesson to; to teach.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.vi:

     her owne daughter Pleasure, to whom shee / Made her companion, and her lessoned / In all the lore of loue, and goodly womanhead.

   • 1812, Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], OCLC 22697011, canto II, stanza LXVIII:

     To rest the weary, and to soothe the sad, / Doth lesson happier men, and shame at least the bad.

Translations

to give a lesson; to teach

• Bulgarian: уча (bg) (uča), давам урок (davam urok)
• Finnish: opettaa (fi)

• Greek: διδάσκω (el) (didásko), δασκαλεύω (el) (daskalévo)

See also

• lesson on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Lesson in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Elsons, Slones, no less, nosels, nosles, solens

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Middle English

Noun

lesson

1. Alternative form of lessoun