Etymology

leal

L1E1A1L1

Today it means: Loyal, honest. Full definition →

Middle English leel ← Anglo-Norman leal ← Old French leial
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromlēgālis
  2. Old French · derived fromleial
  3. Anglo-Norman · derived fromleal
  4. Middle English · inherited fromleel
  5. English todayleal

Inherited from Middle English leel, lel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman leal and Old French leial, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of loyal and legal.

Words from the same roots

Latinlēgālis all →

loyal

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.