-lei
Dutch edit
Etymology edit
From Old French lei (“law, custom”), possibly through Middle High German lei.
Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Suffix edit
-lei
- means sort, kind, type; added to numerals or some pronouns: indicates the specified number of types
- Synonym: -hand
Usage notes edit
Always preceded in a compound by a determiner or numeral in the genitive feminine singular (with lei being historically a feminine noun), i.e. ending in -er.
Derived terms edit
German edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle High German lei f (“kind”), from Old French lei, from Latin lex. Cognate with Dutch -lei.
Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Suffix edit
-lei
- Suffix added to numerals and pronouns to create determiners/pronouns indicating variety
Usage notes edit
- The noun following a determiner in -lei may be singular or plural. It is usually singular with abstract nouns, but alternatively plural with concrete nouns. Thus in zweierlei Hinsicht (“in two different aspects”), but mit zweierlei Öl or Ölen (“with two kinds of oils”).
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- “-lei” in Duden online
- Friedrich Kluge (1883) “-lei”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891
- “-lei” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
Middle English edit
Etymology 1 edit
Suffix edit
-lei
- Alternative form of -ly (“adjectival suffix”)
Etymology 2 edit
Suffix edit
-lei
- Alternative form of -ly (“adverbial suffix”)
Romanian edit
Alternative forms edit
Pronunciation edit
Suffix edit
-lei (pl)
Usage notes edit
- This form of the definite article is used for feminine nouns in the genitive and dative cases which end in a stressed vowel or diphthong:
- Monosyllables ending in vowels also take this suffix: