• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /lɪə/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /lɪɹ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /liə/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /liːɹ/
• (East Anglia, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /lɛː/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
• Homophones: lear; lair (cheer–chair merger)

Exact development uncertain, but apparently from a verb *leer (“to make a face, look sideways”), from leer (“cheek, face, profile”).

leer (third-person singular simple present leers, present participle leering, simple past and past participle leered)

1. (intransitive) To look sideways or obliquely; now especially with sexual desire or malicious intent.

   Synonym: ogle

   • 1834 [1799], Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, “The Devil's Thoughts”, in The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, volume II, London: W. Pickering, page 86:

     And she looked to Mr. –––– / And leered like a love-sick pigeon.

   • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XXXVIII, in Great Expectations […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC:

     I thought I saw him leer in an ugly way at me while the decanters were going round, but as there was no love lost between us, that might easily be.

   • 1878, Henry James, chapter VI, in The Europeans‎^[1], Macmillan and Co.:

     The Baroness perceived that her entertainer had analyzed material comfort to a sufficiently fine point. And then he possessed the most delightful chinoiseries—trophies of his sojourn in the Celestial Empire: pagodas of ebony and cabinets of ivory; sculptured monsters, grinning and leering on chimney-pieces, in front of beautifully figured hand-screens; […]

   • 1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), chapter XVIII, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 163:

     It was a quarter well stocked with deformed, leering, unkempt and uncombed idiots, who held out hands or caps and begged piteously.

   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XIII, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:

     “Hush! Don’t say that. You have done enough evil in your life. My God! Don’t you see that accursed thing leering at us?”

2. (transitive) To entice with a leer or leers.
   • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 6:

     But Bertran has been taught the Arts of Court, / To guild a Face with Smiles; and leer a man to ruin.

leer (plural leers)

1. A significant side glance; a glance expressive of some passion, as malignity, amorousness, etc.; a sly or lecherous look.
   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXXIX, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC:

     Nevertheless humanity stood before him no longer in the pensive sweetness of Italian art, but in the staring and ghastly attitudes of a Wiertz Museum, and with the leer of a study by Van Beers.

   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XVI, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:

     “ […] They say he has sold himself to the devil for a pretty face. It’s nigh on eighteen years since I met him. He hasn’t changed much since then. I have, though,” she added, with a sickly leer.

   • 1895, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, The Stark Munro Letters: […], London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC:

     I rose and bade him good-night, with a last impression of him leaning back in his dressing-gown, a sodden cigar-end in the corner of his mouth, his beard all slopped with whisky, and his half-glazed eyes looking sideways after me with the leer of a satyr.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:

     “ […] I have friends—good friends—like you, Dr. Seward”; this was said with a leer of inexpressible cunning.

   • 1913 December – 1914 March, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “In Durance”, in The Warlord of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published September 1919, →OCLC:

     There was a nasty leer upon his face as he stepped close to her and spoke again. I could not hear his words, but her answer came clearly.

2. An arch or affected glance or cast of countenance.

From Middle English ler, leor (“face, cheek”), from Old English hlēor (“face, cheek, profile”), from Proto-West Germanic *hleuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hleuzą (“ear, cheek”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlews- (“temple of the forehead, cheek”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”). Cognate with Scots lire, lere (“face, appearance, complexion”), Dutch lier (“cheek”), Swedish lyra (“pout”), Norwegian lia (“hillside”), Icelandic hlýr (“the face, cheek, countenance”). Related to Old English hlyst (“sense of hearing, listening”) and hlysnan (“to listen”). More at list, listen.

• lyre, lire, lere

leer (plural leers)

1. (obsolete) The cheek.
   • 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC:

     No ladie (quoth the earle with a lowd voice, and the tears trilling downe his leeres)

2. (obsolete) The face.
3. (obsolete) One's appearance; countenance.
   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     a Rosalind of a better leer than you

4. (obsolete) Complexion; hue; colour.
   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     Here's a young lad fram'd of another leer.
     Look, how the black slave smiles upon the father;

5. (obsolete) Flesh; skin.
6. (UK dialectal) The flank or loin.

From Middle English lere, from Old English ġelǣr, *lǣre (“empty, void, empty-handed”), from Proto-Germanic *lēziz, *lēzijaz (“empty”), from Proto-Indo-European *les- (“to collect, pick”). Cognate with Dutch laar (“a clearing in the woods”), German leer (“empty”). Related to Old English lesan (“to gather, collect”). More at lease.

• lear

leer (comparative more leer, superlative most leer) (obsolete)

2. Empty; unoccupied; clear.

   Synonyms: vacant, void; see also Thesaurus:empty

   • 1591, John Harington, Orlando Furioso:

     The horse runs leere away without the man.

3. Destitute; lacking; wanting.

   Synonyms: absent, awanting; see also Thesaurus:lacking

4. Faint from lack of food; hungry.
5. (UK dialectal) Thin; faint.
6. (obsolete) Having no load or burden; free; without a rider.
   • 1629 (first performance), B[en] Jonson, The New Inne. Or, The Light Heart. […], London: […] Thomas Harper, for Thomas Alchorne, […], published 1631, →OCLC, (please specify the page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     a leer horse

7. Lacking sense or seriousness; trifling; frivolous.

   leer words

From Middle English leren, from Old English lǣran (“to teach, instruct, guide, enjoin, advise, persuade, urge, preach, hand down”), from Proto-West Germanic *laiʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *laizijaną (“to teach”), from Proto-Indo-European *leys- (“track, footprint, furrow, trace”). Cognate with Dutch leren (“to teach, to learn”), German lehren (“to teach”), Swedish lära (“to teach”). Related to Old English lār (“lore, learning, science, art of teaching, preaching, doctrine, study, precept, exhortation, advice, instigation, history, story, cunning”). See lore.

leer (third-person singular simple present leers, present participle leering, simple past and past participle leered)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To teach.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To learn.

See lehr.

leer (plural leers)

1. Alternative form of lehr.

• Erle, LREE, Reel, reel

• IPA^(key): /lɪər/

From Dutch leren, from Middle Dutch lêren, from Old Dutch lēren, from Proto-Germanic *laizijaną.

leer (present leer, present participle lerende, past participle geleer)

1. To learn.

From Dutch leer, from Middle Dutch lêre, from Old Dutch lēra, from Proto-Germanic *laizō.

leer (uncountable)

1. A teaching.

From Dutch leer, from older leder, from Middle Dutch lēder, from Old Dutch *lether, from Proto-Germanic *leþrą.

leer (uncountable)

1. leather

From Dutch leer (dialectal synonym of ladder), from Middle Dutch leer.

leer (plural lere)

1. A ladder.

• → Sotho: lere
• → Xhosa: ileli

• Rhymes: -eːˀər

leer c

1. indefinite plural of le

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

leer

Wikipedia ^nl

• IPA^(key): /leːr/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: leer
• Rhymes: -eːr

From leder through regular syncope of intervocalic -d- (compare weer, blij, la), from Middle Dutch leder, from Old Dutch *lether, from Proto-West Germanic *leþr, from Proto-Germanic *leþrą.

leer n (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. leather

   Synonym: leder

   Deze tas is gemaakt van hoogwaardig leer en is zeer duurzaam. ― This bag is made of high-quality leather and is very durable.

   Ik hou van de geur van vers leer, het is zo karakteristiek. ― I love the smell of fresh leather, it's so distinctive.

• Afrikaans: leer
• Negerhollands: leër, leer
• → Aukan: leli
• → Sranan Tongo: leri

From Middle Dutch lêre, from Old Dutch lēra, from Proto-West Germanic *laiʀu, from Proto-Germanic *laizō.

leer f (plural leren, diminutive leertje n)

1. doctrine

   In de filosofie zijn er verschillende leren en opvattingen over de aard van de werkelijkheid. ― In philosophy, there are various doctrines and views on the nature of reality.

2. theory, teachings

   Deze wetenschappelijke studie is gebaseerd op de nieuwste leren en onderzoek op het gebied van genetica. ― This scientific study is based on the latest theory and research in the field of genetics.

   De afdeling biologie biedt verschillende leren aan, zoals celbiologie, ecologie en moleculaire biologie. ― The biology department offers various fields of learning such as cell biology, ecology, and molecular biology.

3. a field of learning; set of lessons and theory on a subject within a discipline

• Afrikaans: leer
• Negerhollands: leer

From Middle Dutch leer, contraction of ledere.

leer f (plural leren, no diminutive)

1. (dialectal, dated) alternative form of ladder

• Afrikaans: leer

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

leer

1. inflection of leren:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

• lere

From Middle Low German leger, lager. Etymological twin of laager.

leer (genitive leeri, partitive leeri)

1. A camp
2. A side (in a conflict)

   Ta on vastaste leeris

   He's on the enemies' side.

From Middle Low German lere (“study, learning”).

leer (genitive leeri, partitive leeri)

1. A (protestant) confirmation into the faithful community.

From Middle High German lēr, lēre, lǣre, from Old High German lāri, from Proto-West Germanic *lāʀi, from Proto-Germanic *lēziz. Cognate with Bavarian lar, Dutch laar, English leer.

• IPA^(key): /leːɐ̯/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Homophone: lehr
• Rhymes: -eːɐ̯

leer (strong nominative masculine singular leerer, comparative leerer, superlative am leersten)

1. empty

   Synonym: inhaltslos

   Antonyms: voll, gefüllt

• Leere
• leeren

• Leergewicht
• leerlaufen
• nichtleer
• halb leer

leer

1. singular imperative of leeren
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of leeren

• “leer” in Duden online
• “leer” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

• lees (Föhr-Amrum)
• leese (Mooring)

From Old Frisian *hletha (attested in the past participle hleden), from Proto-West Germanic *hlaþan.

leer

1. (Sylt) to load

leer

1. present tense of lee

Inherited from Latin lēgere.

• IPA^(key): /leˈeɾ/

leer

1. to read

leer

1. to read

• Galician: ler
• Portuguese: ler

• Universo Cantigas - "leer"

• lleer

Inherited from Latin lēgere.

• IPA^(key): /ʎeˈeɾ/

leer

1. to read
   • 1263, "4 Asturian documents from the 13th century"‎^[2]:

     Et yo don Andreo Martíniz con mia muller donna Ignés esta carta que mandamos fazer e en concello oymos leer con nuestras manos proprias la rouramos e la confirmamos

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1294, "4 Asturian documents from the 13th century"‎^[3]:

     Hyo María Pérez de suso dicha esta carta que mandé fazer e en concello oy lleer con mias manos proprias lla rouro e la confirmo e connosco en ella esti sinnal

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• Asturian: lleer, ller, (Western) llier
• Mirandese: lher

From Middle High German lǣre, from Old High German lāri. Compare German leer.

leer

1. empty

From Latin aēr, with the initial 'l' added from a preceding definite article.

leer m

1. (Sutsilvan) air

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) aria
• (Puter, Vallader) ajer

Inherited from Old Spanish leer, from Latin legēre (“to collect, gather; to read”).

Cognate with English legend, legible, and lesson.

• IPA^(key): /leˈeɾ/ [leˈeɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: le‧er

leer (first-person singular present leo, first-person singular preterite leí, past participle leído)

1. to read

   Synonym: (Belize) ridear

   Quiero leer el periódico.

   I want to read the newspaper.

   Léase también la Orden General núm. 8.

   Also read General Order No. 8.

   • 1605, Miguel de Cervantes, “{{{1}}}”, in El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha [ The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha], Primera parte, Madrid: Imprenta de Juan de la Cuesta:

     […] y llegó a tanto su curiosidad y desatino en esto, que vendió muchas hanegas de tierra de sembradura para comprar libros de caballerías en que leer, y, así, llevó a su casa todos cuantos pudo haber dellos.

     […] to such a pitch did his eagerness and infatuation go that he sold many an acre of tillage land to buy books of chivalry to read, and brought home as many of them as he could get.

• “leer”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025