lee

lee · noun, adjective¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ḱley-
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hlaiwaz
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hlaiw
4. Old English · inherited fromhlēo
5. Middle English · inherited fromlee
6. English todaylee

From Middle English lee, from Old English hlēo, hlēow (“shelter, protection”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlaiw (whence also Proto-Slavic *xlěvъ), from Proto-Germanic *hlaiwaz (compare German Lee (“lee”), Swedish lä, Danish læ, Norwegian le, Old Norse hlé, Dutch lij), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (compare Welsh clyd (“warm, cozy”), Latin calēre (“to warm up”), Lithuanian šiltas (“warm, pleasant”), Sanskrit शरद् (śarad, “autumn”)).

Lee · proper noun²

1. Old English · inherited fromlēa
2. English todayLee

From Old English lēa, the dative case of lēah (“meadow”), originally to denote someone who lived near a meadow.

Lee · proper noun³

1. Irish · borrowed fromLaoi
2. English todayLee

From Irish Laoi, perhaps from an ancient personal name.

Lee · proper noun⁴

From Chinese: * Mandarin: 李 (Lǐ), and other less common surnames such as 黎 (Lí). * Cantonese: 李 (lei5), and other less common surnames such as 利 (lei6). * Hokkien: 李 (Lí), Teochew: 李 (li2). * Hakka: 李 (Lí).

Lee · proper noun⁵

1. Korean · borrowed from이(李)
2. English todayLee

Transcription of Korean 이(李) (I) and 리(李) (Ri).

Lee · proper noun⁶

A diminutive.

Words from the same roots