lease

lease · noun, verb¹

1. Old High German · derived fromlāzan“to let, let go, release”
2. Latin · derived fromlaxō“to loose”
3. Old French · derived fromlesser
4. Anglo-Norman · derived from*leser
5. Middle English · inherited from*lesen
6. English todaylease

From Middle English *lesen, from Anglo-Norman *leser, Old French lesser, laisier (“to let, let go”), partly from Latin laxō (“to loose”) and partly from Old High German lāzan (“to let, let go, release”) (German lassen), cognate with Old English lǣtan (“to allow, let go, leave, rent”) whence let.

lease · verb²

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*lesaną“to gather”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*lesan
3. Old English · inherited fromlesan“to collect, pick, select, gather”
4. Middle English · inherited fromlesen
5. English todaylease

From Middle English lesen, from Old English lesan (“to collect, pick, select, gather”), from Proto-West Germanic *lesan, from Proto-Germanic *lesaną (“to gather”).

lease · verb³

1. Old English · inherited fromlēasian“to lie, tell lies”
2. Middle English · inherited fromlesen
3. English todaylease

From Middle English lesen, from Old English lēasian (“to lie, tell lies”), from lēas (“falsehood, lying, untruth, mistake”).

lease · noun⁴

1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*lāsu“meadow”
2. Old English · inherited fromlǣs“meadow”
3. Middle English · inherited fromlese
4. English todaylease

From Middle English lese, from Old English lǣs (“meadow”), from Proto-West Germanic *lāsu (“meadow”). See also leasow.

lease · noun⁵

From leash.

Words from the same roots