"L" Word Origins

Lynette

Welsh

An anglicized form of the Welsh name Eluned, popularized by Tennyson and later reshaped by folk etymology to resemble "Lynn" + "-ette."

Lynn

Old English

As a surname, from Welsh "llyn" ("lake") or Old English "lēan" ("reward"), referring to King's Lynn in Norfolk.

Lynne

Origin

A variant spelling of Lynn.

lynx

Ancient Greek

From Latin lynx, from Ancient Greek lunx, ultimately from a root meaning "light" or "bright" — likely a reference to the animal's glowing eyes.

Lyon

French

From French Lyon, from the Roman name Lugdūnum ("fort of Lug"), named after the Celtic deity Lugus.

lyons

Origin

From Old French Lyons (nominative of Lyon), from the Roman name, Latin Lugdūnum (“fort of Lug”), named after Lugus, a Celtic deity, from Proto-Celtic *Lugus.

lyra

Latin

From Latin lyra, "a lyre" — the same word behind the musical instrument lyre and, in anatomy, a brain structure whose crisscrossing fibres reminded early anatomists of lyre strings.

lyre

Ancient Greek

From Latin lyra, from Ancient Greek lura — a doublet of "lyric" and the constellation "Lyra".

lyric

Latin

From Latin lyricus, from Greek lurikos, "of the lyre" — originally describing poetry meant to be sung to lyre accompaniment.

lyrical

Origin

From "lyric" plus the adjective suffix "-al".

lyrics

Latin

Plural of "lyric", from Latin lyricus, ultimately from Greek lura, "lyre".

Lysander

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Λῠ́σᾰνδρος (Lŭ́săndros).