leu

Borrowed from Romanian leu (“lion”), from Latin leō (“lion”). Doublet of lion

• 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

leu

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

• lei

• lue

From Romanian leu (“lion”)

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu (currency of Romania)

• “leu” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• élu, lue

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu

leu

1. Third-person singular (el, ela, vostede^?) preterite indicative of ler

leu

1. past participle of lire

From Latin lupus.

• lou, lu

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

1. wolf (animal)

• French: à la queue leu leu

From Latin locus.

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

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

     Se vos alez par autre leu

     If you go by another place

• endroit

• Middle French: lieu
  • French: lieu

• IPA^(key): /lʲeu̯/

leu

1. third-person plural accusative of la

From Spanish lejos and French loin .

leu

1. far

• (Portugal, Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈlew/

leu

1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) preterite indicative of ler

From Romanian leu (“leu; lion”).

leu m (plural leus)

1. leu (currency unit of Romania and Moldova)

• леу (post-1930s (Moldovan) Cyrillic spelling)

Probably a later learned borrowing from Latin leō (“lion”) (around the 17th century), itself from Ancient Greek λέων (léōn). If inherited from the nominative form, the expected result in Romanian would have been *ieu (as iepure from leporem)[1]; furthermore, 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; cf. 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 Turkish arslan (“lion”), which was also used to refer to a type of currency with a lion on it[2]; see also piastru (English piastre). Compare also the sense of currency with Bulgarian лев (lev).

• IPA^(key): /lew/

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leu m (plural lei)

1. lion
2. leu (the Romanian unit of currency)

• leoaică
• leoaie

From Romanian leu (“lion”)

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛu̯/
• Homophone: lev

leu m (nominative plural lei)

1. leu (currency of Romania)

This noun can also be undeclined.

• leu in Slovak dictionaries at korpus.sk

leu m (plural lei)

1. leu

• leû

From Old French leu, from Latin lupus.

leu m (plural leus)

1. wolf

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