Meanings
lorelei1
plural loreleis
- A siren; a temptress.
We grew silly, tongue-tied, said foolish things we did not mean to say, shoved one another about in the boat, and finally overturned it. The loreleis laughed musical little laughs.
1965, William Henry Davenport, Ben Siegel, Biography past and present: selections and critical essays1 more example
She was like a mermaid, an isolated creature that lives in fulfillment of its own senses; she lured me on, she was the lorelei of the gleaming river of traffic with its million, brilliant eyes that intermittently flowed between us.
1977, Angela Carter, The Passion of New Eve
Lorelei2
- A female given name from German.
Origin
lorelei · noun
From the Lorelei rock on the Rhine, which was haunted by one of these creatures according to German legend.
Full word history & related roots →Lorelei · proper noun
- GermanLorelei“murmuring rock or lurking rock”
- EnglishLorelei
Borrowed from German Lorelei (“murmuring rock or lurking rock”), but not used as a given name in Germany. The Lorelei (or Lorelei, Loreleï, Lore Lay, Lore-Ley, Lurley, Lurelei, Lurlei) is an infamous maritime disaster site because of the Rhine's current and the surrounding terrain. The shipwrecks have been subject to mythological explanation attempts since around 900 AD.
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Translations
German Loreley
- Loreleysiren, temptress
Cite this entry
lorelei. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lorelei
“lorelei.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lorelei. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lorelei,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lorelei.
Source: lorelei on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.