leaf
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leaf¹
- /liːf/ UK
- /lif/ US
Sounds like lief, Leith (th-fronting) · Rhymes with -iːf
Where it comes from
From Middle English lef, leef, from Old English lēaf, from Proto-West Germanic *laub, from Proto-Germanic *laubą (“leaf”), from Proto-Indo-European *lowbʰ-o-m, from *lewbʰ- (“to cut off”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots leaf (“leaf”), Yola laafe (“leaf”), North Frisian luuf (“leaf”), Saterland Frisian Loof (“leaf”), West Frisian leaf (“leaf”), Cimbrian loap (“leaf”), Dutch loof (“foliage”), German Laub (“leaves”), German Low German Loov (“leaf”), Luxembourgish Laf (“foliage, leaves”), Mòcheno lap (“leaf”), Vilamovian łaub, łaup, łojp (“leaf”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål løv (“leaf”), Faroese leyv (“leaf”), Icelandic lauf (“leaf”), Norwegian Nynorsk lauv (“leaf”), Swedish löv (“leaf”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍆𐍃 (laufs, “leaf”); also Irish luibh (“herb, plant”), Latin liber (“bast; book”), Albanian labë (“rind”), Lithuanian lúobas (“bark; bast”), Polish łub (“bark”), Russian луб (lub, “bast”).
(Internet slang: Canadian): In reference to the maple leaf as national symbol.
noun leaves
- The usually green and flat organ that represents the most prominent feature of most vegetative plants. Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
- A foliage leaf or any of the many and often considerably different structures it can specialise into.
- Anything resembling the leaf of a plant.
- A sheet of a book, magazine, etc. (consisting of two pages, one on each face of the leaf). Heretofore advertisers have had to buy and pay for a leaf — two pages.
- A sheet of any substance beaten or rolled until very thin. gold leaf
- One of the individual flat or curved strips of metal, typically made of spring steel, that make up a leaf spring. Lumbering down a precipitous "slideway," the Thornycroft broke two main leaves in the back spring[.]
- Tea leaves.
- A flat section used to extend the size of a table.
- A moveable panel, e.g. of a bridge or door, originally one that hinged but now also applied to other forms of movement. The train car has one single-leaf and two double-leaf doors per side.
- In a tree, a node that has no descendants. The algorithm pops the stack to obtain a new current node when there are no more children (when it reaches a leaf).
- The layer of fat supporting the kidneys of a pig, leaf fat.
- One of the teeth of a pinion, especially when small.
- Cannabis.
- A Canadian person.
- A particular value of the EAX register when a program runs the CPUID instruction; each leaf represents a different category of information returned about the processor. X86_FEATURE_HETERO_CORE_TOPOLOGY is used to identify whether the processor support heterogeneous core type by reading CPUID leaf Fn_0x80000026_EAX and bit 30. if the bit is set as one, then amd_pstate driver will check EBX 30:28 bits to get the core type.
Similar: phyllon
verb leafs · leafing · leafed
- To produce leaves; put forth foliage. Then flowered the mead, then leafed all 'Twas caused by the runic lay.
- To divide (a vegetable) into separate leaves. The lettuce in our burgers is 100% hand-leafed.
- To play a prank on someone by throwing a large clump or collection of leaves at them.
Similar: leave
Leaf²
Where it comes from
From the Old English personal names Lēofa and Lēofe, both from lēof (“dear, beloved”).
proper noun Leafs · Life
- A surname from Old English.
Leaf³
Where it comes from
From the maple leaf depicted on Canada's flag.
noun Leafs · Life
- A Canadian person.
- A member of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, its organization, or its supporters.
- A model of car built by Nissan, with a name chosen for its green connotations.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: foliage, thumb, riffle, flick, flip, folio, riff, leaflet, midrib, frond, foliar, leafage, herb, vine, clover, coca
noun
Similar: phyllon
verb
Similar: leave
Translations
Every language
noun part of a plant
| Español | hoja, foja (desus.), fronda, coscoja |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 잎 ip |
| 日本語 | 葉 ha, 葉っぱ happa, 木の葉 konoha |
| 中文 | 葉 /叶 yè, 葉子 /叶子 yèzi |
| हिन्दी | पत्ता pattā, पत्ती pattī |
| Kiswahili | jani, msahafu |
| Português | folha |
| Français | feuille |
| Deutsch | Blatt, Laubblatt |
| Italiano | foglia |
| Ελληνικά | φύλλο fýllo |
| Română | frunză |
| Русский | лист list, ли́стья lístʹja |
| Tiếng Việt | lá |
| العربية | وَرَقَة waraqa |
| עברית | עָלֶה alé |
noun anything resembling the leaf of a plant
| Français | feuille |
|---|---|
| Ελληνικά | φύλλο fýllo |
| Русский | лист list, листы́ listý |
noun sheet of a book
| Español | hoja, folio |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 낱장 natjang |
| 日本語 | 一枚 ichimai |
| हिन्दी | पन्ना pannā |
| Português | folha |
| Français | feuille, feuillet |
| Deutsch | Blatt |
| Italiano | foglio |
| Ελληνικά | φύλλο fýllo |
| Română | foaie |
| Русский | лист list, листы́ listý |
| العربية | صَحِيفَة ṣaḥīfa |
noun sheet of any substance beaten or rolled until very thin
| Español | hoja |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 箔 haku |
| हिन्दी | पत्ती pattī |
| Português | folha |
| Français | feuille |
| Italiano | foglia |
| Ελληνικά | φύλλο fýllo |
| Română | folie |
| Русский | лист list, листы́ listý |
noun flat section used to extend a table
| Español | tablero |
|---|---|
| Português | aba |
| Français | rallonge, plateau |
| Deutsch | Platte |
| Italiano | prolunga |
| Ελληνικά | φύλλο fýllo |
| Русский | лист list, ли́стья lístʹja |
noun moveable panel of a bridge or door
| Español | hoja, tablero móvil |
|---|---|
| हिन्दी | पल्ला pallā |
| Français | battant, ouvrant, vantail |
noun computing, mathematics: tree node without descendants
| Español | hoja |
|---|---|
| Português | folha |
| Français | feuille |
| Deutsch | Blatt |
| Italiano | foglia |
verb to produce leaves
| Français | feuiller |
|---|
Talk about this word "leaf." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/leaf. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. leaf. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/leaf "leaf." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/leaf.Cite this
@misc{leaf_2026,
title = {leaf},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/leaf},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}