"L" Word Origins

lira

Latin

From Italian lira, ultimately from Latin libra ("a pound," originally a unit of weight). A doublet of libra and litre.

lire

Middle English

From Middle English lire, lyre, from Old English līra (“any fleshy part of the body, muscle, calf of the leg”), from Proto-Germanic *ligwizô, *lihwizô (“thigh, groin”), from Proto-Indo-European *lekʷs-, *lewks- (“groin”). Cognate with Dutch lies (“groin”), Swedish lår (“thigh”).

lis

Latin

Borrowed from Latin lis, meaning "quarrel" or "lawsuit."

Lisa

Origin

Diminutive of Elisabeth.

Lisbon

Vulgar Latin

Etymology tree Paleo-Hispanicbor.? Tartessianbor.? Phoeniciander.? Latin Olisīpō Vulgar Latin Olisiponabor. Arabic لِشْبُونَة (lišbūna)bor. French Lisbonnebor. English Lisbon As the capital of Portugal, from French Lisbonne, from Arabic لِشْبُونَة (lišbūna), from Latin Olisīpō, the origin of which is uncertain. Older spellings include Ulixbona and Ulixbuna (in the Visigothic era); Ὀλισσιπών (Olissipṓn) or Ὀλισσιπόνα (Olissipóna) (by Greek writers), Olisippo (by Pliny the Elder), and Ulyssippo (by Pomponius Mela of Hispania), the last of which relates to the first-century Roman folk etymology that it was founded by and named after Ulysses; another common folk etymology is the Phoenician 𐤏𐤋𐤉𐤑 𐤏𐤁𐤀 (ʿlyṣ ʿbʾ /⁠ʿaliṣ-ʿuboʾ⁠/, “safe harbour”), but there is not much evidence for such words. Another possibility, based on hydronymy of the area, derives the name from Paleo-Hispanic's appellation for the Tagus, Lisso or Lucio. In other senses, with reference to the Portuguese city.

Lise

Origin

From the French, and possible also from Scandinavian, Lise. Variant of more common English Lisa.

Lisi

Italian

Borrowed from Italian and Sicilian Lisi.

lisle

Origin

Named after Lisle, France (now Lille), where it was first produced.

lisp

Old English

From Old English wlisp ("stammering"), going back to a Proto-Germanic root meaning much the same thing.

list

Old English

From Old English liste ("edge, border, strip") — the sense of an enumerated set of items developed later from the idea of items arranged in a row.

listee

Origin

From list + -ee.

listen

Old English

From Old English hlysnan ("to listen"), from a Proto-Germanic root related to hearing — distantly connected to the modern word loud.

listenership

Origin

From listener + -ship (suffix denoting a property or state of being).

listening

Middle English

From Middle English listnynge, lustninde, from Old English hlysnende, equivalent to listen + -ing.

lister

Origin

From list (in the sense "to make a list of things") plus the agent suffix -er, meaning "one who does the action."

listless

Middle English

From Middle English lystles — literally "without desire" (list here is an old word for "desire," not the modern sense of a list of items) plus the suffix -less.

listmaker

Origin

From list + maker.

Liszt

Origin

Borrowed from Hungarian Liszt.

lit

Origin

An old alternative past tense of "light," formed by analogy with words like bit and fit; the slang senses (drunk, excellent) developed much more recently in the 20th and 21st centuries.

litany

Latin

From Old French letanie, from Latin litania, ultimately from Greek litē, meaning "prayer" or "entreaty."

lite

Origin

Variation of light (in the sense of lacking weight, substance, etc.)

literacy

Origin

Formed from literate plus the suffix -cy, on the pattern of words like accuracy.

literal

Latin

From Latin littera, meaning "letter", via Late Latin litteralis "of letters" — that is, keeping to the letter of the text.

literary

Latin

From French littéraire, ultimately from Latin littera ("letter").

literate

Latin

From Latin litteratus, from littera ("letter"); a doublet of the words literato and literatus.

literature

Latin

From Old French littérature, from Latin litteratura ("writing, grammar"), from littera ("letter").

lithate

Origin

From lithic acid + -ate (“salt or ester”).

lithe

Origin

From Middle English lithe, from Old English līþe (“gentle, mild”), from Proto-West Germanic *linþ(ī), from Proto-Germanic *linþaz, from Proto-Indo-European *lentos. Akin to Saterland Frisian lied (“thin, skinny, gaunt”), Danish, Dutch, and archaic German lind (“mild”). Some sources also list Latin lenis (“soft”) and/or Latin lentus (“supple”) as possible cognates.

lither

Origin

From Middle English lither, lyther (“deceitful; evil; false; treacherous; sinful, wicked; leading to cruelty, injustice, or wickedness, perverted; of a country: filled with wicked people; cruel, fierce; dangerous, deadly; frightening; grievous, painful; harmful, injurious; miserable, paltry, poor, worthless; feeble, sluggish; cowardly”) [and other forms], from Old English lȳþre (“bad, wicked; base, mean, wretched; corrupt”) [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *lūþrijaz (“bad; dissolute; neglected; useless”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“limp, slack”). Sense 1.2 (“flexible, supple; agile, lithe”) is influenced by lithe. Cognates Dutch lodder (“wanton person”), loddering (“drowsy; trifling; wanton”) German liederlich (“dissolute”), German lotterig (“slovenly”), lüderlich (“slovenly”) Old English loþrung (“delusion, rubbish, nonsense”), loddere (“beggar”)

lithesome

Origin

From Middle English lithsum, equivalent to lithe + -some. Doublet of lissom.

lithia

Origin

Borrowed from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos, “a stone”), apparently because it is found only in minerals; discovered 1817 by Johan August Arfwedson.

lithiated

Origin

From lithium + -ated.

lithic

Origin

From lith- + -ic.

lithiophilite

Origin

From lithio- + -philite.

lithium

Greek

From Greek lithos ("stone"), plus the chemical suffix -ium — named because it was first found in mineral (stone) form, unlike other alkali metals discovered in plant ash.

Lithuania

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin Lithuania, from a Slavic form of the native name Lietuva, possibly linked to a local river name.

litigant

Origin

From French litigant, from Middle French, from Latin litigans.

litigate

Origin

First attested in 1606; borrowed from Latin lītigātus, perfect passive participle of lītigō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from līs (“a lawsuit”, oblique stem in līt-) + -igō (denominative verb-forming suffix).

litigation

Latin

From Latin litigatio, from litigare ("to dispute, go to law").

litigator

Origin

From litigate plus the agent suffix -or.

litotes

Origin

Learned borrowing from Late Latin lītotēs, from Ancient Greek λιτότης (litótēs, literally “plainness”), from λιτός (litós, “simple”).

litre

Medieval Latin

From French litre, from Medieval Latin litra, from Greek litra, originally a unit of weight.

litter

Latin

From Anglo-Norman litere ("bedding, bed of straw"), from Latin lectus ("bed") — the sense shifted from straw bedding, to the young born on that bedding, to loose scattered material and trash.

little

Old English

From Old English lȳtel, from a Proto-Germanic root related to "to bow down" or "to bend low" — the same root that gives us the word lout.

Littleton

Old English

From Old English lȳtel ("small, little") + tūn ("settlement, town").

littoral

Origin

From Late Latin littoralis, from litoris (genitive of litus). The doubled 't' is a late medieval addition, and the more classical litoral is also sometimes found. Cognate to French littoral, Spanish litoral, Portuguese litoral, and more distantly to English lido (“outdoor pool”), via Italian lido (“beach, shore”).

Liu

Origin

From Mandarin 劉 /刘 (liú), doublet of Lau and Luu.

Liv

Origin

From Khmer លីវ (liiw).