livre

See also: livré

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French livre. Doublet of libra.

Noun

livre (plural livres)

1. (historical) A unit of currency formerly used in France, divided into 20 sols or sous.
   • 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 115:

     They like to see them awarded comfortable pensions. Is it 700,000 livres a year to the Polignac family?

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 30:

     He never, it should be noted, totally renounced his inheritance: a critic of the court round, he benefited to the tune of a cool two million livres a year from royal largesse […] .

2. (historical) An ancient French unit of weight, equal to about 1 avoirdupois pound.

Anagrams

• Elvir, Liver, ervil, levir, liver, rivel, viler

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /livʁ/

• audio (un livre)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Old French livre, borrowed as a semi-learned term from Latin liber, librum.

Noun

livre m (plural livres)

1. book

Synonyms

• bouquin

Related terms

• librairie f

Etymology 2

From Old French livre, from Latin libra.

Noun

livre f (plural livres)

1. pound (unit of weight)
2. pound (unit of currency)

See also

• franc
• sou
• chelin

Etymology 3

Verb

livre

1. first-person singular present indicative of livrer
2. third-person singular present indicative of livrer
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of livrer
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of livrer
5. second-person singular imperative of livrer

Further reading

• “livre” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Norman

Etymology 1

From Old French livre, borrowed as a semi-learned term from Latin liber, librum.

Noun

livre m (plural livres)

1. (Jersey) book

Derived terms

Terms derived from livre

• garder les livres (“to keep books, book-keep”)

• livre d'exèrcice (“exercise book”)

• livre d'priéthes (“prayer book”)

Related terms

• librairie (“bookshop”)

Etymology 2

From Latin libra.

Noun

livre f (plural livres)

1. pound (unit of measure of mass)

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Old French

Etymology 1

Semi-learned borrowing from Latin liber, librum.

Noun

livre m (oblique plural livres, nominative singular livres, nominative plural livre)

1. book (collection of sheets of paper in a specific order)

Descendants

• French: livre
• Norman: livre

Etymology 2

From Latin libra.

Noun

livre f (oblique plural livres, nominative singular livre, nominative plural livres)

1. livre (medieval French equivalent of a monetary pound)
2. pound (weight)

Usage notes

• The Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle says that the actual measure varied between 380g and 552g, as opposed to the modern pound which is 454g to the near gram. See references below.

Descendants

• → English: livre
• French: livre

References

• livre on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (livre, supplement)

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese livre, libre, from Latin līber, from Old Latin loeber, from Proto-Italic *louðeros, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lewdʰ-er-os, from *h₁lewdʰ- (“people”).

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈli.vɾɨ/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈli.vɾi/
• Hyphenation: li‧vre

Adjective

livre m, f (plural livres, comparable)

1. free
2. unoccupied
3. clear, open

Related terms

• livrar
• liberar
• liberdade
• libertar

Verb

livre

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of livrar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of livrar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of livrar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of livrar