leu

Borrowed from Romanian leu (“lion”), from Latin leō (“lion”). Doublet of Leo, lev, lion, and Lyon.

• IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.uː/

leu (plural lei)

1. The unit of currency of Romania, equal to one hundred bani.
2. The unit of currency of Moldova, equal to one hundred bani.

• -ule, Elu, Lue, lue, ule

• lei

From Latin locus.

leu m (plural leus)

1. (Morvan) place

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈlɛw]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈlew]

leu m (plural leus)

1. leu (currency of Romania)
2. leu (currency of Moldova)

• “leu”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “leu”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “leu” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

• lou, lop, léoué, laoué

Inherited from Old French leu, from Latin lupus.

• IPA^(key): /lø/

leu m (feminine leuve, plural leus)

1. (Troyen) wolf

• Daunay, Jean (1998) Parlers de Champagne : Pour un classement thématique du vocabulaire des anciens parlers de Champagne (Aube - Marne - Haute-Marne)‎^[1] (in French), Rumilly-lés-Vaudes
• Baudoin, Alphonse (1885) Glossaire de la forêt de Clairvaux‎^[2] (in French), Troyes

From Romanian leu.

• IPA^(key): /ˈleu̯/, [ˈle̞u̯]
• Rhymes: -eu
• Syllabification^(key): leu
• Hyphenation^(key): leu

leu

1. leu (unit of currency of Romania and Moldova)

• lei

• “leu”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[3] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

• lue

From Romanian leu (“lion”). Doublet of lion.

• Audio:

  (file)

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu (currency of Romania)

• “leu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• élu, lue

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu

leu

1. third-person singular preterite indicative of ler

leu

1. past participle of lire

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛw/

From Latin lupus.

• lou, lu

leu oblique singular, m (oblique plural leus, nominative singular leus, nominative plural leu)

1. wolf (animal)

• Middle French: leu
  • ⇒ French: à la queue leu leu
• ⇒ Middle French: loup
  • French: loup
    • Haitian Creole: lou
    • ⇒ Mauritian Creole: lulu
    • ⇒ Seychellois Creole: loulou
    • → English: loo; Loup
• Walloon: leu

From Latin locus.

leu oblique singular, m (oblique plural leus, nominative singular leus, nominative plural leu)

1. place
   • c. 1180, Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot ou le Chevalier de la charrette:

     Se vos alez par autre leu

     If you go by another place

   • 1260–1267, Brunetto Latini, “Cist premiers livres parole de la naissance de toutes choses [This first book talks about the birth of all things]” (chapter 1), Livre I - Premiere partie, in Livres dou Tresor [Book of Treasures]; republished as Polycarpe Chabaille, compiler, Li livres dou tresor par Brunetto Latini‎^[4], Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1863, page 1:

     si come li sires qui vuet en petit leu amasser choses de grandisme vaillance […] por acroistre son pooir […] i met il les plus chieres choses et les plus precieux joiaus que il puet, selonc sa bone entencion, tout autressi est li cors de cest livre compilez de sapience

     Just like the lord, who wants to accumulate very valuable things in a tiny place […] in order to increase his power, […] puts there—according to his good intention—the dearest things and the most precious jewels he can, so the body of this book is filled with knowledge

• endroit

• Middle French: lieu
  • French: lieu

• IPA^(key): [lʲeu̯]

leu

1. third-person plural accusative of la
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 5^b20

     trisin intamail sin .i. combad ǽt leu buid domsa i n-iriss et duús in intamlitis

     through that imitation, i.e. so that there may be jealousy with them for me to be in faith and if by chance they might imitate [me]

   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 97^d10

     Is peccad díabul lesom .i. fodord doib di dommatu, ⁊ du·fúairthed ní leu fora sáith din main, ⁊ todlugud inna féulæ ɔ amairis nánda·tibérad Día doïb, ⁊ nach coimnacuir ⁊ issi dano insin ind frescissiu co fochaid.

     It is a double sin in his opinion, i.e. the murmuring by them of want, although there remained some of the manna with them upon their satiety, and demanding the meat with faithlessness that Good would not give it to them, and [even] that he could not; therefore that is the expectation with testing.

From Spanish lejos and French loin .

leu

1. far

• Hyphenation: leu

Borrowed from Romanian leu (“leu; lion”). Doublet of leão.

leu m (plural leus)

1. leu (currency unit of Romania and Moldova)

leu

1. third-person singular preterite indicative of ler

• леу (leu) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

Either inherited or a later learned borrowing from Latin leō (“lion”) (around the 17th century), itself from Ancient Greek λέων (léōn). All the other Romance cognates were derived from the accusative form leōnem or genitive leōnis (and some were borrowings themselves). Cf. also lăun and Lăune(le) (“a river in Romania”), as well as leoaie.

For the name of the currency, it was probably based on the Dutch leeuwendaalder (“lion thaler/dollar”), which depicted a lion; compare daalder, also German Löwenthaler. This traces back to the 17th century, when the Dutch currency was used in the Romanian principalities.

Another explanation gives the origin of this sense as a calque of Ottoman Turkish آرسلان (arslan, “lion”), which was also used to refer to a type of currency with a lion on it; see also piastru (English piastre). Compare also the sense of currency with Bulgarian лев (lev).

• IPA^(key): /lew/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ew

leu m (plural lei)

1. lion
2. leu (Romanian and Moldovan unit of currency)
   • 1991 November 21, Constitution of Romania, title 4, article 136, point 2, in Monitorul Oficial‎^[5], year 3, number 233, Bucharest, page 21:

     Moneda națională este leul, iar subdiviziunea acestuia, banul.

     The national currency is the leu, and its subunit is the ban.

• leoaică
• leoaie

• “leu”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

Derived from Romanian leu (“lion”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛu̯/
• Homophone: lev

leu m inan (nominative plural lei)

1. leu (currency of Romania)

• This noun can also be undeclined.

• “leu”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Borrowed from Romanian leu.

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu

• leû

From Old French leu, from Latin lupus.

• IPA^(key): /løː/

leu m (plural leus)

1. wolf

• “Leu” in Laurent Remacle, Dictionnaire wallon-français (1852).
• “Leu” in Joseph Hubert, Dictionnaire wallon-liégeois et français (1853).