leal means loyal, honest. It carries an Arena rating of 1403, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, leal ranks #537 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #2,356 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #4,618 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #5,847 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
leal is pronounced /liːl/.
Why “leal” is a great word
Faithfully loyal, honest, and true. From Middle English *leel*, via Anglo-Norman *leal* and Old French *leial*, ultimately from Latin *lēgālis* ('legal, pertaining to the law'), first attested in English c. 1300. Unlike 'loyal,' a general coin of allegiance, or 'true,' which pledges accuracy to fact, *leal* carries the archaic weight of a sworn moral bond. It is the vassal kneeling in unwavering service, the lover's vow spoken in a fading tongue, the hand that does not waver when the cause is lost—a fidelity preserved in the amber of poetry, for when ordinary loyalty proves too thin.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English leel, lel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman leal and Old French leial, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of loyal and legal.
adj
- Loyal, honest.e.g.“Mr Toots, like the leal and trusty soul he was, stopped the cabriolet in a twinkling, and told Susan Nipper of his commission, at which she cried more than before.” — 1848, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son:
- True, genuine.e.g.“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.” — 1885, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, “In which are Continued the Refinements wherewith Don Quixote Played the Part of a Lover in the Sierra Morena”, in John Ormsby, transl., The Ingenious Gentleman Don
name
- A city and village in North Dakota.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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