lef

Borrowed from Yiddish לבֿ (leyv, “courage”), which is borrowed from Hebrew לב (lev, “heart”).

• IPA^(key): /lɛf/

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• Hyphenation: lef
• Rhymes: -ɛf

lef n or m (uncountable)

1. courage, bravery, daring
2. temerity, gall rashness, audacity

   het gore lef ― the utter gall

3. arrogance

• lefdoekje
• lefgozer m

• M. J. Koenen & J. Endepols, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (tevens Vreemde-woordentolk), Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 (26th edition) [Dutch dictionary in Dutch]

• elf, fel

Borrowed from English left.

• IPA^(key): /leːf/

lef

1. left (left hand side)

• Fiji Hindi Dictionary

• leve, lefe, leffe, life, live
• luf (Southern or West Midlands)

From Old English lēof, līof, from Proto-West Germanic *leub, from Proto-Germanic *leubaz.

• IPA^(key): /leːf/

lef

1. beloved, dear
   • c. 1368, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess, as recorded c. 1440–1450 in Bodleian Library MS. Fairfax 16, folio 130r:

     I have so many an ydel thoght / Purely for defaulte of slepe / That by my trouthe I take no kepe / Of noo thinge how hyt cometh or gooth / Ne me nys no thynge leve nor looth

     I have so many idle thoughts / Purely from lack of sleep / That I swear I take no heed / Of anything, whether it comes or goes, / And nothing is either dear to me or hated.

lef

1. beloved, dear

• English: lief; ⇒ livelong
• Scots: lief, lee
• ⇒ Yola: liveer

• “lẹ̄f, adj. & adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Proto-West Germanic *lēb. Cognate with Old Frisian lēf, Old Saxon lēf. Further origin obscure. Compare Dutch laf and loof.

• IPA^(key): /leːf/

lēf

1. weak, frail; sick

• levz, levza (Sursilvan)
• leavz, leavza (Sutsilvan)
• leiv (Puter)

From Latin labium, from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang loosely”).

lef f (plural lefs)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Surmiran, Vallader, anatomy) lip

lef

1. afraid, scared

• leffert

• “lef (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011