lek

• IPA: /lɛk/
• Rhymes: -ɛk

• laike (Yorkshire)

From Germanic roots meaning "play". In the biology sense, it comes specifically from Swedish lek (“child's play”), by means of Swedish leka (“to play”). The verb is first attested in English in 1871 and the noun at least as early as 1867.

lek (plural leks)

1. (biology) an aggregation of male animals for the purposes of courtship and display
   • 1975, Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, figure caption, 2000, page 333,

     Each of the three displaying cocks occupies a small territory at the mating center of the lek.

   • 1997, John Kricher, A Neotropical Companion, →ISBN, page 278:

     Given that a combination of factors have "released" males from attending nests, why have some species organized their courtship bouts in leks, especially the tightly clumped leks that are typical of manakins and cocks-of-the-rock?

   • 2007, Kentwood D. Wells, The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians, page 352,

     Nevertheless, it does appear that many of the processes of mate choice and sexual selection described for bird and mammal leks also apply to anuran choruses.

lek (third-person singular simple present leks, present participle lekking, simple past and past participle lekked)

1. (biology) to take part in the courtship and display behaviour of a lek
   • 1994, M. B. Andersson, Sexual Selection, page 164,

     Males in many lekking species have conspicuous morphological ornaments that may be targets of female choice, but male contest competition may also be involved.

   • 2000, George Barlow, The Cichlid Fishes: Nature's Grand Experiment In Evolution, page 79,

     The second reason lekking is so fascinating is because the males aggregate.

   • 2010, Boaz Yuval, Jorge Hendrichs 17: Behavior of Fruit Fly in the Genus Ceratitis (Dacinae: Ceratitidini), Martin Aluja, Allen Norrbom (editors), Fruit Flies (Tephritidae): Phylogeny and Evolution of Behavior, page 437,

     In a recent study (Yuval et al. 1998), the size and weight of males captured either lekking or resting at the same time in the vicinity of leks were measured.

   • 2010, Robert Michael Pyle, Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year, unnumbered page,

     Half a dozen of the thumbnail-size males lekked in a sunny glade.

2. (Britain, dialectal, Yorkshire, colloquial) to play

   T’lads are lekkin in t’park.

The Yorkshire dialect word is rarely written and is pronounced differently in the different Ridings of Yorkshire. Compare laik, layk.

From Albanian lek, named after Alexander the Great, whose name is often shortened to Leka in Albanian.

lek (plural leks or leku or lekë)

1. the currency unit of Albania, divided into 100 qindarka
   • 1992, Mario I. Bléjer, Albania: From Isolation Toward Reform, page 56,

     With the loss of control by the Government over foreign exchange surrender requirements and the almost complete depletion of foreign exchange reserves, in early 1992 the official rate was further devalued to leks 50 = $1.

   • 1997, Igor Artimiev, Gary J. Fine, Country Studies: Albania, Ira W. Lieberman, Stilpon S. Nestor, Raj M. Desai, Between State and Market: Mass Privatization in Transition Economies, page 178,

     Enterprise shares are sold at voucher auctions in exchange for either immaterial privatization leks (through a bank transfer from the bidder's privatization lek account) or through privatization vouchers, which are submitted at the time of bidding.

   • 2003, Iraj Hoshi, Ewa Balcerowicz, Leszek Balcerowicz, Barriers to Entry and Growth of New Firms in Early Transition, page 253,

     Value Added Tax is another tax imposed on all enterprises with a yearly turnover of more than 2 million Leks. VAT was introduced in the Albanian tax system in 1995 replacing the old turnover tax.

• Elk, Kel, elk

Named after Alexander the Great, whose name is often shortened to Leka in Albanian.

lek m (indefinite plural lekë, definite singular leku)

1. lek (the currency unit of Albania)

• Audio

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• Rhymes: -ɛk

lek n (plural lekken, diminutive lekje n)

1. leak

lek (comparative lekker, superlative lekst)

1. leaky

lek

1. first-person singular present indicative of lekken
2. imperative of lekken

• elk

lek

1. Alternative form of leke

From Old Norse leikr.

• leik (Nynorsk also)

lek m (definite singular leken, indefinite plural leker, definite plural lekene)

1. play, playing
2. a game, contest

   de olympiske leker ― the Olympic Games

• leke

From Albanian lek.

lek m (indeclinable)

1. the lek, currency of Albania.

See the etymology of the main entry.

lek

1. imperative of leke

• “lek” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /lɛk/
• Homophone: leg

From Proto-Slavic *lěkъ.

lek m inan

1. medicine

   Synonym: lekarstwo

From Albanian lek.

lek m anim

1. lek (currency)

• lek in Polish dictionaries at PWN

From English leg.

lek

1. leg, foot (of a human)
2. limb (of an animal)

• Ulrike Mosel, Tolai and Tok Pisin: the influence of the substratum on the development of New Guinea Pidgin (1980)

• lijȇk (Ijekavian)

From Proto-Slavic *lěkъ, borrowed from Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍃 (lēkeis, “physician”)|tr=lekeis[1]. Compare Old Norse læknir, Old High German lahhi, Danish læge.

lȇk m (Cyrillic spelling ле̑к)

1. medicine

• IPA^(key): /ˈléːk/
• Tonal orthography: lẹ̑k

lék m inan (genitive léka, uncountable)

1. medicine

From Old Norse leikr.

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lek c

1. child's play; typically denotes pleasurable and less rule-bound games and activities
2. deck of cards

lek

1. imperative of leka. free play

From English leg.

lek

1. leg, foot
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, 3:15:

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

2. footprint
3. hindleg (of an animal)

• Ulrike Mosel, Tolai and Tok Pisin: the influence of the substratum on the development of New Guinea Pidgin (1980)

• (Zinacantán) IPA^(key): /lɛkʰ/

lek

1. good

   Antonym: chopol

(Verbal phrases)

• leklek ba

• Laughlin, Robert M. (1975) The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantán. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.