leed

L1E1E1D2
/liːd/

noun

Language; tongue.

OriginMiddle English lede ← Old English lēoden →
Less commonScrabble 5
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Meanings

leed1

nounleed (plural leeds)

plural leeds

  1. Northern EnglandScotlandLanguage; tongue.
  2. ScotlandA national tongue (contra a foreign language).
  3. ScotlandThe speech of a person, echelon of persons, or class of persons; form of speech; talk; utterance; manner of speaking or writing; phraseology; diction.

leed2

nounleed (plural leeds)

plural leeds

  1. A strain in a rhyme, song, or poem; refrain; flow.
  2. A constant or repeated line or verse; theme.
  3. Patter; rigmarole.

leed3

nounleed (plural lede)

plural lede

  1. alternativeobsoleteAlternative spelling of lede (“a man; a person”).

    & after to callice hee [Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey] arriued, / like a noble Leed of high degree, / & then to Turwin soone he hyed, / there he thought to haue found King Henery; […]

    p. 1544, “fflodden ffeilde”, in John W[esley] Hales, Frederick J[ames] Furnivall, [Francis James] Child, W[illiam] Chappell, et al., editors, Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript. Ballads and Romances, volume I, London: N[icholas] Trübner & Co., […], published 1867, →OCLC, page 318, lines 9–12

leed4

verb
  1. obsoleteObsolete spelling of lead (“to guide”).

LEED5

proper noun
  1. abbreviationacronymAcronym of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a system to categorise the level of environmentally sustainable construction in sustainable buildings.
nounLEED (uncountable)
  1. abbreviationacronymuncountableAcronym of low-energy electron diffraction.

Origin

leed · noun

  1. Old Englishlēod“people, nation”
  2. Old Englishlēoden“popular or national language, native tongue”
  3. Middle Englishlede
  4. Englishleed

From Middle English lede, shortened variant of leden (“language”), from Old English lēoden (“popular or national language, native tongue”), from Old English lēod (“people, nation”). Cognate with Scots leed (“language”). More at lede.

More words from Middle English, Old English

Full word history & related roots →

leed · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*lēw-“to sound, resound, sing out”
  2. Proto-Germanic*leuþą“song, lay, praise”
  3. Old Englishlēoþ“song, poem, ode, lay, verse”
  4. Middle Englishlede
  5. Englishleed

From Middle English lede, led, leod, variant of Middle English leth, leoth (“song, poem”), from Old English lēoþ (“song, poem, ode, lay, verse”), from Proto-Germanic *leuþą (“song, lay, praise”), from Proto-Indo-European *lēw- (“to sound, resound, sing out”). Cognate with Dutch lied (“song”) and German Lied (“song”), whence the English doublet lied.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

leed · noun

See lede.

Full word history & related roots →

leed · verb

See lead.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with leed

readneedspeedleadfeedagreedindeedspreadexceedreedproceedsucceedweedReidbeaddeedcreedliedmeadgreedbleedtweedheedplead
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

leadledeliedleadledeliedleadledeliedleadledeliedleadlead

Anagrams

deledeellede
Cite this entry
APA

leed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leed

MLA

“leed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leed. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “leed,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/leed.

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