Etymology: Old English lǽs strong feminine < Old Germanic type *læ̂swâ ; the original declension was nominative lǽs , accusative, genitive, dative lǽswe (whence leasow n.), but in Old English there appears also an oblique form lǽse . The word has sometimes been confused with the plural of lea n.¹The word is probably etymologically identical with (blód-)lǽs , genitive -lǽswe , (blood)-letting < Old Germanic type *læ̂swâ < pre-Germanic *lēd-twā or *lēd-swā , < root of let v.¹; the original meaning would thus be land ‘let alone’, not tilled.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman les = Old French lais, leis, lez, etc., a letting, leaving (modern French, with pseudo-etymological spelling legs, ‘legacy’), verbal noun < laisser to let, leave.

Etymology: apparently a variant of leash n., perhaps confused with an adoption of French lisse , lice ( < Latin līcia , plural of līcium ) = sense 2 below.

Etymology: Common Germanic: Old English léas corresponds to Old Frisian lâs , Old Saxon, Old High German, Middle High German lôs (Dutch, German los ), Old Norse lauss (Swedish lös , Danish løs ), Gothic laus < Old Germanic *lauso- , < *laus- (:*leus- : lus- , whence lose v.¹), an extension of the Old Aryan root *leu- (Greek λύειν to loosen). The suffix -less suffix is etymologically identical with the present word; loose adj. is an adoption of the Old Norse equivalent lauss. In the Germanic languages generally the word had the senses ‘loose’, ‘free, unoccupied’, ‘destitute of’, ‘loose in conduct, immoral’, ‘vain, empty, worthless’. In Old English the only senses are ‘destitute of’ (see -less suffix) and ‘false, lying’.

Etymology: A Common Germanic strong verb (in English weak since the 14th cent.): Old English lesan (past tense læs, plural lǽson) to gather, glean, corresponds to Old Frisian lesa to read, Old Saxon lesan to gather (Dutch lezen to gather, select, read), Old High German lesan (Middle High German, modern German lesen to gather, to read), Old Norse lesa to gather, pick, read (Swedish läsa, Danish læse to read), Gothic lisan, galisan to gather. Outside Germanic the Lithuanian lesù (infinitive lesti), to pick up with the beak, may be cognate.

Etymology: Old English léasian , < léas lease adj.; perhaps partly a back-formation < leasing n.¹

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman lesser, a specific use of Old French lesser , laissier (modern French laisser ) to let, let go < Latin laxāre to loosen, loose, < laxus loose, lax adj.

Etymology: < leas, plural of lea n.⁴