Etymology

liefling

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Today it means: One held as lief or dear; a darling. Full definition →

Afrikaans liefling
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The story

  1. Afrikaans · derived fromliefling“darling”
  2. English todayliefling

Equivalent to lief + -ling (compare darling = dear + -ling), perhaps from or modelled after Afrikaans liefling (“darling”), German Liebling (“darling”). Compare also loveling.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.