"L" Word Origins

licentious

Origin

From Latin licentiōsus, from licentia (“license, freedom”).

licey

Origin

From lice + -y.

lichen

Ancient Greek

From Latin lichen, from Ancient Greek leikhḗn, related to leíkhō, "to lick" — the name likely comes from how the growths seem to "lick" or spread across a surface.

licit

Origin

From Latin licitus (“lawful”), perfect participle of licet (“[it] is permitted”, impersonal verb).

lick

Latin

From Old English liccian, from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to lick," related to Latin lingo and Greek leíkhō. The violent sense ("to beat, defeat") is unique to English and its exact origin is unclear.

lickerish

Origin

Probably an alteration of lickerous.

lickpenny

Origin

From lick + penny.

licorice

Ancient Greek

From Old French licoresse, from Late Latin liquiritia, itself a garbled form of Ancient Greek glukúrrhiza, literally "sweet root."

lid

Old English

From Old English hlid, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to cover."

Liddell

Old English

From Old English hlÿde ("loud, River Lid") + dæl ("dale, valley").

Liddy

Origin

A pet form of Lydia, respelled with a "y" ending to match the sound.

lido

Origin · 1800

Named after the Lido, a beach island in Venice that became one of Europe's first fashionable seaside resorts in the 1800s — the word later became a general term for any outdoor pool.

lidocaine

Origin

Formed from (acetani)lid(e) plus -caine, a suffix borrowed from cocaine and used in the names of many anaesthetics.

lie

Old English

From Old English licgan ("to lie down") and, separately, leogan ("to tell an untruth") — two originally distinct Old English verbs that happen to look alike in modern English.

Liechtenstein

German

Named after the ruling Liechtenstein dynasty, whose name comes from Liechtenstein Castle in Austria — from German licht ("light, bright") and Stein ("stone"), so literally "bright stone."

lied

German

Borrowed directly from the German word Lied, meaning "song."

liefling

Origin

Equivalent to lief + -ling (compare darling = dear + -ling), perhaps from or modelled after Afrikaans liefling (“darling”), German Liebling (“darling”). Compare also loveling.

liege

Old French

From Old French liege, tracing back through Middle High German ledic ("free") to a Germanic root meaning unrestricted or unattached.

liegeman

Origin

From Middle English lege man; equivalent to liege + -man.

lien

Latin

Borrowed from Middle French lien ("bond, tie"), from Latin ligare, "to bind" — the same root as ligament.

lieu

Latin

Borrowed from French lieu, "place," from Latin locus.

lieutenant

Old French

From Old French lieu ("place") + tenant ("holder") — literally someone "holding the place" of a superior.

life

Old English

From Old English lif, going back to a Proto-Germanic root related to "remaining" or "staying" — the same deep root that gives us "leave" and "belief."

life-changing

Origin

From life + changing.

lifeblood

Origin

A compound of life + blood, formed to describe blood as the thing that sustains living creatures.

lifeboat

Origin

A straightforward compound of life + boat, naming a boat built specifically to save lives.

lifeguard

Dutch

A compound of life + guard, originally modelled on the Dutch lijfgarde ("bodyguard") before shifting to its modern water-safety meaning.

lifeless

Old English

From Old English liflaes, formed from life + the suffix -less ("without").

lifelike

Origin

Formed from life + like, describing something that looks or behaves like a living thing.

lifeline

Origin

A compound of life + line, originally describing a literal rope that could save someone from drowning.

lifelong

Origin

Formed from life + long, describing something that stretches across a whole lifetime.

lifelore

Origin

From life + lore (“learning, knowledge”).

lifer

Origin

Formed from life + the agent suffix -er, originally referring to someone serving a life prison term.

lifesaver

Origin

A compound of life + saver, describing anyone or anything that saves a life — later extended to mean anything hugely helpful.

lifesaving

Origin

Formed from life + saving, describing the practice of preventing loss of life.

lifespan

Origin

A compound of life + span, describing the "span" or stretch of time a life or object lasts.

lifestyle

Origin

A compound of life + style, coined to describe a characteristic way of living.

lifetime

Middle English

From Middle English lyftyme, formed from life + time.

lifey

Origin

From Middle English lyfy, lyvy, equivalent to life + -y.

lift

Old Norse

From Old Norse lypta ("to raise into the air"), related to the Germanic root for "air" — a "lift" was originally a raising into the sky.

lifted

Origin

From lift + -ed.

liftoff

Origin

Formed from the phrasal verb "lift off," describing the instant a vehicle leaves the ground.

ligament

Latin

From Latin ligamentum, from ligare, "to tie or bind."

ligate

Origin

First attested in 1599; borrowed from Latin ligātus, perfect passive participle of ligō (“to bind”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of legato. Compare league.

ligation

Origin

Borrowed from Late Latin ligatio, ligationis, from Latin ligo. Doublet of liaison.

ligature

Late Latin

From Late Latin ligatura, from ligare, "to tie or bind" — the same root as ligament and lien.

light

Old English

From Old English lēoht, from a very old root meaning "to shine" shared across most European languages.

lightbox

Origin

From light + box. In the Internet sense, originally the name of one specific technique.