leal

Inherited from Middle English leel, lel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman leal and Old French leial, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of loyal and legal.

• IPA^(key): /liːl/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -iːl

leal (comparative lealer, superlative lealest) (now chiefly Scotland)

1. Loyal, honest.
   • 1848, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son:

     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.

   • 2000 August 8, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, “Jon [Snow]”, in A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire; 3), London: Voyager, →ISBN, page 706:

     We thank you for the pure white fire of his goodness, for the red sword of justice in his hand, for the love he bears his leal people.

2. True, genuine.
   • 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 Quixote of La Mancha […] In Four Vols, volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co. […], →OCLC, part I, page 30:

     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.

• Ella, Lela

From Old Galician-Portuguese, from Latin legālis. Compare legal.

leal m or f (plural leais)

1. adhering to the rules of propriety, fair, honest, loyal, true

   Antonym: desleal

• lealmente

• lealdade
• lei

From Latin legālis.

leal m (feminine singular leala, masculine plural leai, feminine plural leales)

1. loyal
2. honest

• (loyal): fedel

• lege

leal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular leal)

1. alternative form of loial

• leial (obsolete spelling)

From Old Galician-Portuguese leal, from Latin legālis. Doublet of legal, borrowed from the same source.

Compare Spanish leal, Catalan lleial, French loyal.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: le‧al

leal m or f (plural leais, comparable, comparative mais leal, superlative o mais leal or lealíssimo)

1. adhering to the rules of propriety, fair, honest, loyal, true

   Antonym: desleal

• lealmente

• lealdade
• lei

Borrowed from Italian leale. Doublet of legal.

leal m or n (feminine singular leală, masculine plural leali, feminine and neuter plural leale)

1. loyal, faithful

From Middle English leel, lel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman leal and Old French leial, from Latin lēgālis.

• IPA^(key): /lil/

leal (comparative mair leal, superlative maist leal)

1. loyal
2. true, pure

Inherited from Old Spanish, from Latin legālis. See also the borrowed doublet legal.

• IPA^(key): /leˈal/ [leˈal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: le‧al

leal m or f (masculine and feminine plural leales)

1. adhering to the rules of propriety, fair, honest, loyal, true

   Synonym: fiel

   Antonym: desleal

• “leal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024