lich

See also: Lich, lích, lịch, and -lich

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English lich, from Old English līċ, from Proto-West Germanic *līk, from Proto-Germanic *līką, from Proto-Indo-European *leyg-.

Cognate with Dutch lijk, German Leiche, Norwegian lik, Swedish lik, Danish lig.

Alternative forms

• lych, lytch, litch, lyke

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lɪtʃ/
  • (West Country, possibly obsolete) IPA^(key): /litʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtʃ
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /laɪx/

Noun

lich (plural liches or (with Scots pronunciation) lichs)

1. (archaic, UK) A corpse or dead body. [from 9th c.]
   • 1845, Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, page 35:

     […] and that, as the chronicle states, a lich-way would be made through then, assembled his servants, and attempted to stop its progress as it was carried over a bridge. A scuffle ensued, and the body was thrown into the water. The lich-way as not made ; but the Bishop of Exeter amply revenged himself for the proceedings.

   • 1983, Poul Anderson, Time Patrolman (Sci-Fi), →ISBN:

     She saw him again that eventide, but then he was a reddened lich.

2. (fantasy, roleplaying games) A reanimated corpse or undead being; particularly an intelligent, undead spellcaster.
   • 1974, Karl Edward Wagner, Sticks:

     It was a lich’s face – desiccated flesh tight over its skull.

3. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) Ellipsis of lichfield.
4. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) Ellipsis of lichgate.
5. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) Ellipsis of lichway.

Derived terms

• demilich
• lichfield, lich-field, lich field
• lichgate, lich-gate, lich gate
• lich king, lich-king
• lich lord, lich-lord, lichlord
• lich-wake
• lichway, lich-way, lich way

 

Translations

undead being

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 屍鬼／尸鬼 (si¹ gwai²)

  Mandarin: 巫妖 (wūyāo)

• Czech: lich (cs) m, kostěj m
• Dutch: zielenzuiger
• Esperanto: liĉo
• French: liche (fr) f
• German: Lich (de)
• Icelandic: lík (is) n
• Japanese: リッチ (ja) (ritchi)
• Lithuanian: ličas m
• Norwegian: lik (no) n
• Polish: lisz m, licz
• Russian: лич (ru) (lič)
• Spanish: liche
• Ukrainian: ліч (lič)

Etymology 2

From Middle English līke, līch (“like”); see like and -like for more. Compare -ly and -lich.

Adjective

lich (comparative more lich, superlative most lich)

1. (obsolete) Like; resembling; equal.
   • 1386-90, John Gower, Confessio Amantis.

     Anon he let two cofres make / Of one semblance, and of one make, / So lich, that no lif thilke throwe, / That one may fro that other knowe.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 29:

     [He] rather joy'd to be than seemen sich, For both to be and seeme to him was labour lich.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• lik

Etymology

From Old English līċ, from Proto-West Germanic *līk, from Proto-Germanic *līką, from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“alike, similar”).

Noun

lich (plural lichs)

1. A body.
   • 1362, William Langland, Piers Plowman, XI.2:

     A wyf […] Þat lene was of lich and of louh chere.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• English: lich
• Scots: lyke, lich

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lix/
• Rhymes: -ix
• Syllabification: lich

Noun

lich f

1. genitive plural of licha

Noun

lich n

1. genitive plural of licho

Further reading

• lich in Polish dictionaries at PWN