lofe

L1O1F4E1

noun

An offer; choice; an opportunity; chance.

OriginMiddle English lof ← Old English lof ← Proto-West Germanic *lob →
RareScrabble 7
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

lofe1

nounlofe (plural lofes)

plural lofes · alternative loff · alternative loave

  1. Northern EnglandWest MidlandsAn offer; choice; an opportunity; chance.

    "Yance I hed t' lofe an' I'd luck to say no, an' I niver hed t' lofe ageàn."—Said by an elderly spinster.

    1869, Alexander Craig Gibson, The Folk-Speech of Cumberland and Some Districts Adjacent, page 212

lofe2

verblofe (third-person singular simple present lofes, present participle lofing, simple past and past participle lofed)

present singular third person lofes · participle present lofing · participle past lofed · past lofed · alternative loff · alternative loave · alternative love

  1. UKdialectalobsoletetransitiveTo praise; commend.
  2. Northern EnglandWest MidlandstransitiveTo offer; offer at a price; expose for sale.

    Ah'd lofed him it an' he wadn't tak 't.

    1899, William Dickinson, Edward William Prevost, Simon Dickson Brown, A Glossary of the Words and Phrases Pertaining to the Dialect of Cumberland, page 202

Origin

lofe · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*lewbʰ-
  2. Proto-Germanic*lubą
  3. Proto-West Germanic*lob
  4. Old Englishlof
  5. Middle Englishlof
  6. Englishlofe

Inherited from Middle English lof, lofe (“praise, price”), from Old English lof (“praise, glory, repute, song of praise, hymn”), from Proto-West Germanic *lob, from Proto-Germanic *lubą (“praise, permission”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to love, like”) (and thence a distant doublet of love). Cognate with Scots lofe (“an offer”), North Frisian lof (“praise”), Dutch lof (“praise, glory, commendation”), German Lob (“praise, commendation, tribute”), Icelandic lof (“praise”). For semantic development, perhaps compare the etymology of praise and its senses.

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

Full word history & related roots →

lofe · verb

  1. Proto-Indo-European*lewbʰ-
  2. Proto-Germanic*lubą
  3. Proto-Germanic*lubōną
  4. Proto-West Germanic*lobōn
  5. Old Englishlofian
  6. Middle Englishloven
  7. Englishlofe

Inherited from Middle English loven (“to praise, set a price on”), from Old English lofian (“to praise, exalt, appraise, value, set a price on”), from Proto-West Germanic *lobōn, from Proto-Germanic *lubōną (“to praise, vow”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to love, like”). Cognate with Scots loave (“to offer at a price”), North Frisian lowe (“to vow, swear”), Dutch loven (“to praise, bless, commend”), German loben (“to praise, laud, commend”), Icelandic lofa (“to promise, praise, allow”).

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

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

floe
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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