lich

See also: -lich and lịch

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English lich, from Old English līċ, from Proto-Germanic *līką, from Proto-Indo-European *līg-. Cognate with Dutch lijk, German Leiche, Norwegian lik, Swedish lik, Danish lig.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lɪtʃ/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtʃ

Noun

lich (plural liches)

1. (archaic) A corpse or dead body. [from 9th c.]
   • 1983, Poul Anderson, Time Patrolman (Sci-Fi), →ISBN:

     She saw him again that eventide, but then he was a reddened lich.

2. (fantasy, roleplay) A reanimated corpse or undead being, particularly a still-intelligent undead spellcaster.
   • 1974, Karl Edward Wagner, ‘Sticks’:

     It was a lich’s face – desiccated flesh tight over its skull.

Derived terms

• lichgate
• lych-gate

Translations

undead being

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 屍鬼 (si¹ gwai²)

• Czech: lich (cs) m, kostěj m
• Dutch: Zielenzuiger
• French: liche (fr)
• German: Lich (de)

• Icelandic: lík (is) n
• Lithuanian: ličas m
• Norwegian: lik (no) n
• Polish: lisz m
• Russian: лич (ru) (lič)
• Spanish: liche

Etymology 2

From Middle English līke, līch (“like”); see like and -like for more. Compare -ly.

Adjective

lich (comparative more lich, superlative most lich)

1. (obsolete) Like; resembling; equal.
   • 1386-90, John Gower, Confessio Amantis.

     Anon he let two cofres make / Of one semblance, and of one make, / So lich, that no lif thilke throwe, / That one may fro that other knowe.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene iii. vii. 29.

     [He] rather joy'd to be than seemen sich, For both to be and seeme to him was labour lich.

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Middle English

Etymology

From Old English līċ, from Proto-Germanic *līką, from Proto-Indo-European *līg-.

Noun

lich (plural lichs)

1. A body.
   • 1362, William Langland, Piers Plowman, XI.2:

     A wyf […] Þat lene was of lich and of louh chere.

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lʲix/

Noun

lich f

1. genitive plural of licha

Noun

lich n

1. genitive plural of licho

Further reading

• lich in Polish dictionaries at PWN