лелек

From Old Church Slavonic лиликъ (lilikŭ), probably a wanderwort akin to Turkish leylek (“stork”), Albanian lejlek (“stork”), Greek λέλεκας (lélekas, “wading bird”), Ukrainian леле́ка (leléka, “stork”), ultimately from Classical Persian لَک‌ْلَک (lak-lak).

Compare also Czech lelek (“nightjar”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɛlɛk]

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ле́лек • (lélek) m

1. (dialectal) stork (wading bird of family Ciconiidae)

   Synonym: щъ́ркел (štǎ́rkel)

• ли́лик (lílik), ли́лек (lílek) — dialectal
• лейле́к (lejlék) — from Turkish
• ле́ляк (léljak) — reanalyzed with suffix -як (-jak)

• леле́ча impf (leléča), леле́кам pf (lelékam, “to say le-le”)
• леле́я (leléja, “to wail, to lament”) (colloquial)

• “лелек”, in Речник на българския език [Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language] (in Bulgarian), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2014
• Georgiev, Vladimir I., editor (1986), “лелек”, in Български етимологичен речник [Bulgarian Etymological Dictionary] (in Bulgarian), volume 3 (крес¹ – мѝнго¹), Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Pubg. House, page 354

Of imitative origin, compare Czech lelek (“nightjar”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɛlɛk]

лелек • (lelek) m

1. lament, wail, cry

Of imitative origin, similar to lelekati.

• IPA^(key): /lêleːk/
• Hyphenation: ле‧лек

ле̏ле̄к m inan (Latin spelling lȅlēk)

1. wailing, weeping

• “лелек”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025