Lei

See also: Appendix:Variations of "lei"

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Chinese 雷 (léi).

Proper noun

Lei (plural Leis)

  1. A surname from Chinese.

Statistics

  • According to the 2010 United States Census, Lei is the 4726th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 7504 individuals. Lei is most common among Asian/Pacific Islander (94.23%) individuals.

Further reading

Anagrams

German

Etymology 1

From Middle High German leie, probably from Celtic and ultimately from a substrate language. Cognate with Luxembourgish Lee, Dutch lei.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /laɪ̯/
  • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):(file)
  • Homophone: leih

Noun

Lei f (genitive Lei, plural Leien)

  1. (now chiefly in placenames) a rock, mostly in the Rhenish Massif, typically of slate
  2. (obsolete) synonym of Schiefer (“slate”)
Declension
Declension of Lei [feminine]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative eine die Lei die Leien
genitive einer der Lei der Leien
dative einer der Lei den Leien
accusative eine die Lei die Leien
Alternative forms
Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

Noun

Lei

  1. plural of Leu (Romanian currency)

Hawaiian

Etymology

lei (“wreath; child”). Also a short form of numerous compound names containing the word lei.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈlei̯/, [ˈlɛj]

Proper noun

Lei

  1. a female or male given name from Hawaiian, also a nickname

References

Italian

Etymology

The use of a word literally meaning "she" as a courtesy pronoun is apparently due to allocution with formulae such as "la Vostra persona" (Your person) being grammatically female. Although grammatically female, the courtesy pronoun can be used with grammatically masculine complements (e.g. "Lei è coraggioso", meaning "You are brave.MASC").

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈlɛ.i/[1]
  • Homophone: lei
  • Rhymes: -ɛi
  • Hyphenation: Lè‧i

Pronoun

Lei

  1. (formal, polite) alternative letter-case form of lei (“you”)
    Synonyms: (elevated, archaic) Ella, (Southern Italy) Voi

See also

Italian personal pronouns
singular plural
first second second formal / polite5 third first second second formal / polite5 third
m or f m f m or f m f
nominative io tu Lei, Ella8 lui, egli8, ello8, elli3, 8, esso8 lei, ella8, essa8 noi voi, Voi7 Loro loro
elli3, 8, ellino4, 8, eglino4, 8, essi8 elle3, 8, elleno4, 8, esse8
atonic (clitic)11 accusative / dative-reflexive mi, m', -mi, me9 ti, t', -ti, te9 ― si6, s', -si, se9 ci, c', -ci, ce9 vi, Vi7, v', V'7, -vi, -Vi7, ve9 ― si, s', -si, se9
accusative La, -La, L' lo, l', -lo, il4 la, l', -la Le, -Le li, -li le, -le
dative Le, -Le glie9 Loro10 loro10, gli2, -gli2, glie9
gli, -gli le, -le, gli2, -gli2
locative ― ci, c',
vi1, v'1 		― ci, c',
vi1, v'1
partitive ne, n' ne, n'
tonic12 prepositional-reflexive ― sé ― sé
oblique me te Lei lui, esso8 lei, essa8 noi voi, Voi7 Loro loro,
essi8 elle8, esse8
1 Formal.
2 Informal.
3 Archaic.
4 Obsolete.
5 Grammatically third person forms used semantically in the second person as a formal or polite way of addressing someone (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
6 Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
7 Formal (capitalisation optional); in many regions, can refer to just one person (compare with French vous).
8 Traditional grammars still indicate the forms egli (animate), ello / ella (animate), esso / essa and their plurals as the nominative forms of the third person pronouns; outside of very formal or archaizing contexts, all such forms have been replaced by the obliques lui, lei, loro.
9 Forms used when followed by a third-person direct object proclitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).
10 Used after verbs.
11 Unstressed forms, stand alone forms are found proclitically (except dative loro / Loro), others enclitically (-mi, -ti, etc.).
12 Disjunctive, emphatic oblique forms used as direct objects placed after verbs, in exclamations, along prepositions (prepositional) and some adverbs (come, quanto, etc.); also used with a to create alternative emphatic dative forms.

References

  1. ^ lei in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Anagrams

Slovak

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈlɛi/
  • Homophone: Ley

Proper noun

Lei

  1. dative of Lea
  2. locative of Lea
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