英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

leathern (adj.)[leathern 词源字典]: Old English leðren; see leather + -en (2).[leathern etymology, leathern origin, 英语词源]
leatherneck (n.): "U.S. Marine," 1914, Navy slang, from leather + neck (n.). So called for the leather collars of their early uniforms; earlier in British use (1890) as a sailor's term for a soldier.
leathery (adj.): 1550s, from leather + -y (2). Related: Leatheriness.
leave (v.): Old English læfan "to let remain; remain; have left; bequeath," from Proto-Germanic *laibijan (cognates: Old Frisian leva "to leave," Old Saxon farlebid "left over"), causative of *liban "remain," (source of Old English belifan, German bleiben, Gothic bileiban "to remain"), from root *laf- "remnant, what remains," from PIE *leip- "to stick, adhere;" also "fat."

The Germanic root has only the sense "remain, continue," which also is in Greek lipares "persevering, importunate." But this usually is regarded as a development from the primary PIE sense of "adhere, be sticky" (compare Lithuanian lipti, Old Church Slavonic lipet "to adhere," Greek lipos "grease," Sanskrit rip-/lip- "to smear, adhere to." Seemingly contradictory meaning of "depart" (early 13c.) comes from notion of "to leave behind" (as in to leave the earth "to die;" to leave the field "retreat").
leave (n.): "permission," Old English leafe "leave, permission, license," dative and accusative of leaf "permission," from Proto-Germanic *lauba (cognates: Old Norse leyfi "permission," Old Saxon orlof, Old Frisian orlof, German Urlaub "leave of absence"), from PIE *leubh- "to care, desire, love, approve" (see love (n.)). Cognate with Old English lief "dear," the original idea being "approval resulting from pleasure." Compare love, believe. In military sense, it is attested from 1771.
leave-taking (n.): late 14c., from leave (n.) + present participle of take (v.).
leaved (adj.): "having leaves," past participle adjective from verb leave "to put forth leaves," mid-13c., from leaf (n.).
leaven (n.): mid-14c., from Old French levain "leaven, sourdough" (12c.), from Latin levamen "alleviation, mitigation," but used in Vulgar Latin in its literal sense of "a means of lifting, something that raises," from levare "to raise" (see lever). Figurative use from late 14c.
leaven (v.): c. 1400, from leaven (n.). Related: Leavened; leavening.
Lebanese: 1860, from Lebanon + -ese.
Lebanon: name of a nation in western Asia, from Semitic root l-b-n "white," probably in reference to snow-capped peaks, or possibly to chalk or limestone cliffs. The Greek name of the island Lemnos is of Phoenician origin and from the same root.
lebensraum (n.): "territory needed for a nation's or people's natural development," 1905, from German genitive of leben "life" (see life) + raum "space" (see room (n.)).
lecanomancy (n.): "divination by inspection of water in a basin," c. 1600, from Latinized form of Greek lekane "dish-pan" + -mancy.
lech (n.1): "Celtic monumental stone," 1768, from Welsh llech, cognate with Gaelic and Irish leac (see cromlech).
lech (n.2): "yen, strong desire" (especially sexual), 1796, variant of letch. Meaning "a lecher" is by 1943.
lecher (n.): "man given to excessive sexual indulgence," late 12c., from Old French lecheor (Modern French lécheur) "one living a life of debauchery," especially "one given to sexual indulgence," literally "licker," agent noun from lechier "to lick, to live in debauchery or gluttony," from Frankish *likkon or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *likkojan "to lick" or some other Germanic source (see lick). The Old French feminine form was lechiere. Middle English, meanwhile, had lickestre "female who licks;" figuratively "a pleasure seeker," literally "lickster."
lecherous (adj.): c. 1300, probably from lecher + -ous; or else from rare Old French lecheros. Related: Lecherously; lecherousness.
lechery (n.): c. 1200, from Old French lecherie "impertinence, deceit," from lecheor (see lecher).
The priests had excellent cause to forbid us lechery: this injunction, by reserving to them acquaintance with and absolution for these private sins, gave them an incredible ascendancy over women, and opened up to them a career of lubricity whose scope knew no limits. [Marquis de Sade, "Philosophy in the Bedroom"]
lecithin (n.): fatty substance found in the yolks of eggs (among other places), 1861, from French lécithine (coined 1850 by N.T. Gobley), from Greek lekithos "egg yolk," + chemical suffix -ine (2). Greek lekithos is of unknown origin.
lectern (n.): early 14c., lettorne, lettron, from Old French letron, from Medieval Latin lectrinum, from Late Latin lectrum "lectern," from root of Latin legere "to read" (see lecture (n.)). Half-re-Latinized in English in 15c.