leigh

/liː/

leigh

English Noun Top 12,625

Definition

A meadow.

Etymology

From Middle English legh, lege, lei (“clearing, open ground”) from Old English lēah (“clearing in a forest”) from Proto-Germanic *lauhaz (“meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *lówkos (“field, meadow”). Akin to Old Frisian lāch (“meadow”), Old Saxon lōh (“forest, grove”) (Middle Dutch loo (“forest, thicket”); Dutch -lo (suffix forming place names)), Old High German lōh (“covered clearing, low bushes”), Old Norse ló (“clearing, meadow”). More at Waterloo.