lene

L1E1N1E1
/ˈliːn/

noun

The smooth breathing (spiritus lenis).

OriginLatin lēnis →
Less commonScrabble 4
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Meanings

nounlene (plural lenes)

plural lenes

  1. human sciencesThe smooth breathing (spiritus lenis).
  2. human sciencesA voiceless, or unaspirated, stopped consonant, such as Greek pi, kappa, or tau.

    When in a crasis, a lene consonant […] is combined with an aspirated vowel, the lene is always changed (except in the Ionic dialect) into the corresponding aspirate […]

    1861, William Edward Jelf, Accidence

Origin

  1. Latinlēnis
  2. Englishlene

Anglicisation of Latin lēnis. Doublet of lenis.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Sounds the same

lean

Anagrams

NeelLeenelne
Cite this entry
APA

lene. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lene

MLA

“lene.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lene. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lene,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lene.

Source: lene on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.