Etymology

leese

L1E1E1S1E1

Today it means: To lose. Full definition →

Middle English lesen ← Old English lēosan ← Proto-West Germanic *leusan
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

leese · verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*lews-“to cut; sever; separate; loosen; lose”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*leusaną“to lose”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*leusan
  4. Old English · inherited fromlēosan
  5. Middle English · inherited fromlesen
  6. English todayleese

From Middle English lesen, from Old English lēosan, from Proto-West Germanic *leusan, from Proto-Germanic *leusaną (“to lose”), from Proto-Indo-European *lews- (“to cut; sever; separate; loosen; lose”).

leese · verb2

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*lausijaną“to release, loosen”
  2. Old English · inherited fromlȳsan
  3. Middle English · inherited fromlesen
  4. English todayleese

From Middle English lesen, from Old English lȳsan, līesan (“to loosen, release, redeem, deliver, liberate”), from Proto-Germanic *lausijaną (“to release, loosen”). Cognate with Dutch lozen, German lösen, Swedish lösa.

leese · verb3

Compare French léser, Latin laesus.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishlesen all →

Proto-Germanic*leusaną all →

Proto-Indo-European*lews- all →

losslos

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.