leal

Etymology

From Middle English leel, lel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman leal and Old French leial, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of loyal and legal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liːl/

Adjective

leal (comparative lealer, superlative lealest)

1. (now chiefly Scotland) Loyal, honest.
   • 2000, George RR Martin, A Storm of Swords, Bantam 2011, p. 858:

     We thank you for the pure white fire of his goodness, for the red sword of justice in his hand, for the love he bears his leal people.

2. (now only Scotland) True, genuine.
   • 1885, John Ormsby, Don Quixote, volume 1, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes, chapter XXVI:

     The lealest lover time can show, / Doomed for a lady-love to languish, / Among these solitudes doth go, / A prey to every kind of anguish. / Why Love should like a spiteful foe / Thus use him, he hath no idea, / But hogsheads full--this doth he know-- / Don Quixote's tears are on the flow, / And all for distant Dulcinea / Del Toboso.

Anagrams

• Ella, Lela

Etymology

From Old Portuguese, from Latin legālis. Compare legal.

Adjective

leal m, f (plural leais)

1. loyal

Etymology

From Latin legālis.

Adjective

leal m (feminine singular leala, masculine plural leai, feminine plural leales)

1. loyal
2. honest

Adjective

leal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular leal)

1. Alternative form of loial

Etymology

From Old Portuguese, from Latin legālis. Compare legal, borrowed from the same source.

Adjective

leal (plural leais, comparable)

1. loyal

Etymology

From Middle English leel, lel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman leal and Old French leial, from Latin lēgālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lil/

Adjective

leal (comparative mair leal, superlative maist leal)

1. loyal
2. true, pure

Etymology

From Old Spanish, from Latin legālis. See also the borrowed doublet legal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leˈal/

Adjective

leal (plural leales)

1. loyal

Further reading

• “leal” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.