Lei

See also: lei, lēi, léi, lěi, lèi, and leí

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Chinese 雷 (léi).

Proper noun

Lei (plural Leis)

1. A surname from Chinese.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Lei is the 4726^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 7504 individuals. Lei is most common among Asian/Pacific Islander (94.23%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Lei”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 2, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 417.

Anagrams

• EIL, lie, ile-, Eli, Lie, LIE, Ile, -lie, -ile, %ile, ELI, ile

German

Alternative forms

• Lay, Ley, Leie

Etymology

From Middle High German leie, probably from Celtic and ultimately from a substrate language. Cognate with Luxembourgish Lee, Dutch lei.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laɪ̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: leih

Noun

Lei f (genitive Lei, plural Leien)

1. (now chiefly in placenames) a rock of slate, mostly in the Rhenish Massif
2. (obsolete) Synonym of Schiefer (“slate”)

Derived terms

• Erpeler Ley
• Loreley
• von der Leyen

Hawaiian

Etymology

lei (“wreath; child”). Also a short form of numerous compound names containing the word lei.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlei̯/, [ˈlɛj]

Proper noun

Lei

1. a female or male given name from Hawaiian, also a nickname

Related terms

• Kalei
• Kuʻulei

References

• Hawaii State Archives: Marriage records Lei occurs in 19th century marriage records as the only name (mononym) of 1 woman and 3 men.

Italian

Pronoun

Lei (plural voi)

1. (formal, polite) Alternative letter-case form of lei (“you”)

See also

Italian personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative	Reflexive	Accusative	Dative	Combined	Disjunctive	Locative	Partitive
Singular	first	—	io	mi, m', -mi			me	me	—
	second	—	tu	ti, t', -ti			te	te
	third	m	lui	si2, s', -si	lo, l', -lo	gli, -gli	glie, se2	lui, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
		f	lei, Lei1		la, La1, l', L'1, -la, -La1	le3, Le1, -le3, -Le1		lei, Lei1, sé
Plural	first	—	noi	ci, c', -ci			ce	noi	—
	second	—	voi, Voi4	vi, Vi4, v', V'4, -vi, -Vi4			ve	voi, Voi4
	third	m	loro, Loro1	si, s', -si	li, Li1, -li, -Li1	gli, -gli, loro (formal), Loro1	glie, se	loro, Loro1, sé	ci, c', vi, v' (formal)	ne, n'
		f			le, Le1, -le, -Le1
1	Third person pronominal forms used as formal terms of address to refer to second person subjects (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
2	Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
3	Often replaced by gli, -gli in informal language.
4	Formal (capitalisation optional); in many regions, can refer to just one person (compare with French vous).

Anagrams

• -ile, eli

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛi/
• Homophone: Ley

Proper noun

Lei

1. dative of Lea
2. locative of Lea