leu

See also: Leu, LEU, léu, lèu, lều, and le'u

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Romanian leu (“lion”), from Latin leō (“lion”). Doublet of lion

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.uː/

Noun

leu (plural lei)

1. The unit of currency of Romania, equal to one hundred bani.
2. The unit of currency of Moldova, equal to one hundred bani.

Translations

unit of currency of Romania

• Bulgarian: ле́я (bg) f (léja)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 列伊 (zh) (lièyī)

• Finnish: leu (fi)
• Greek: λέι (el) n (léi) (indeclinable)
• Hungarian: lej (hu)
• Japanese: レウ (ja) (reu)
• Korean: 레우 (re'u)
• Macedonian: леа f (lea)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: lej (pl) m
• Portuguese: leu (pt) m
• Romanian: leu (ro)
• Russian: лей (ru) m (lej)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: леј m

  Roman: lej (sh) m

• Slovak: leu m, lei m
• Ukrainian: лей m (lej)

unit of currency of Moldova

• Finnish: leu (fi)
• Greek: λέι (el) n (léi) (indeclinable)
• Hungarian: lej (hu)
• Portuguese: leu (pt) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: leu (ro)
• Russian: лей (ru) m (lej)
• Slovak: leu m, lei m

Anagrams

• -ule, Elu, Lue, lue, ule

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Bourguignon

Alternative forms

• lei

Etymology

From Latin locus.

Noun

leu m (plural leus)

1. (Morvan) place

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Finnish

Noun

leu

1. leu (unit of currency of Romania and Moldova)

Declension

Inflection of leu (type maa) singular plural nominative leu leut genitive leun leuiden partitive leuta leuita accusative leu leun leut inessive leussa leuissa elative leusta leuista illative leuhun leuihin adessive leulla leuilla ablative leulta leuilta allative leulle leuilla essive leuna leuilta translative leuksi leuiksi abessive leutta leuitta instructive – leuin comitative – leuineen

Synonyms

• lei

Anagrams

• lue

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French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Romanian leu (“lion”)

Noun

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu (currency of Romania)

Further reading

• “leu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• élu, lue

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Galician

Noun

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu

Verb

leu

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Middle French

Verb

leu

1. past participle of lire

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Old French

Etymology 1

From Latin lupus.

Alternative forms

• lou, lu

Noun

leu oblique singular, m (oblique plural leus, nominative singular leus, nominative plural leu)

1. wolf (animal)

Descendants

• French: à la queue leu leu

Etymology 2

From Latin locus.

Noun

leu oblique singular, m (oblique plural leus, nominative singular leus, nominative plural leu)

1. place
   • circa 1180, Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot ou le Chevalier de la charrette:

     Se vos alez par autre leu

     If you go by another place

Synonyms

• endroit

Derived terms

• Middle French: lieu
  • French: lieu

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Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lʲeu̯/

Pronoun

leu

1. third-person plural accusative of la

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Papiamentu

Etymology

From Spanish lejos and French loin .

Adjective

leu

1. far

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlew/

Etymology 1

Verb

leu

1. Template:pt-verb-form-of

Etymology 2

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Romanian leu (“leu; lion”).

Noun

leu m (plural leus)

1. leu (currency unit of Romania and Moldova)

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Romanian

Alternative forms

• леу (leu) (post-1930s (Moldovan) Cyrillic spelling)

Etymology

Probably a later learned borrowing from Latin leō (“lion”) (around the 17th century), itself from Ancient Greek λέων (léōn). If inherited from the nominative form, the expected result in Romanian would have been *ieu (as iepure from leporem); furthermore, all the other Romance cognates were derived from the accusative form leōnem or genitive leōnis (and some were borrowings themselves). Cf. also lăun and Lăune(le) (“a river in Romania”), as well as leoaie.

For the name of the currency, it was probably based on the Dutch leeuwendaalder (“lion thaler/dollar”), which depicted a lion; cf. daalder, also German löwenthaler. This traces back to the 17th century, when the Dutch currency was used in the Romanian principalities. Another explanation gives the origin of this sense as a calque of Turkish arslan (“lion”), which was also used to refer to a type of currency with a lion on it; see also piastru (English piastre). Compare also the sense of currency with Bulgarian лев (lev).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lew/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

leu m (plural lei)

1. lion
2. leu (the Romanian unit of currency)

Declension

Declension of leu

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) leu	leul	(niște) lei	leii
genitive/dative	(unui) leu	leului	(unor) lei	leilor
vocative	leule		leilor

Derived terms

• leoaică
• leoaie

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Slovak

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Romanian leu (“lion”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛu̯/
• Homophone: lev

Noun

leu m

1. leu (currency of Romania)

Usage notes

This noun can also be undeclined.

Further reading

• “leu”, 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

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Spanish

Noun

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu

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Walloon

Alternative forms

• leû

Etymology

From Old French leu, from Latin lupus.

Noun

leu m (plural leus)

1. wolf

References

• “Leu” in Laurent Remacle, Dictionnaire wallon-français (1852).
• “Leu” in Joseph Hubert, Dictionnaire wallon-liégeois et français (1853).