leal

From Middle English leel, lel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman leal and Old French leial, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of loyal and legal.

• IPA^(key): /liːl/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -iːl

leal (comparative lealer, superlative lealest)

1. (now chiefly Scotland) Loyal, honest.
   • 1848, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son:

     Mr Toots, like the leal and trusty soul he was, stopped the cabriolet in a twinkling, and told Susan Nipper of his commission, at which she cried more than before.

   • 2000, George R. R. Martin, A Storm of Swords, Bantam, published 2011, page 858:

     We thank you for the pure white fire of his goodness, for the red sword of justice in his hand, for the love he bears his leal people.

2. (now only Scotland) True, genuine.
   • 1885, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, “In which are Continued the Refinements wherewith Don Quixote Played the Part of a Lover in the Sierra Morena”, in John Ormsby, transl., The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha […] In Four Vols, volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co. […], →OCLC, part I, page 30:

     The lealest lover time can show, / Doomed for a lady-love to languish, / Among these solitudes doth go, / A prey to every kind of anguish.

• Ella, Lela

From Old Galician-Portuguese, from Latin legālis. Compare legal.

leal m or f (plural leais)

1. adhering to the rules of propriety, fair, honest, loyal, true

   Antonym: desleal

• lealmente

• lealdade
• lei

From Latin legālis.

leal m (feminine singular leala, masculine plural leai, feminine plural leales)

1. loyal
2. honest

• (loyal): fedel

• lege

leal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular leal)

1. Alternative form of loial

• leial (obsolete spelling)

From Old Galician-Portuguese leal, from Latin legālis. Doublet of legal, borrowed from the same source.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: le‧al

leal m or f (plural leais, comparable, comparative mais leal, superlative o mais leal or lealíssimo)

1. adhering to the rules of propriety, fair, honest, loyal, true

   Antonym: desleal

• lealmente

• lealdade
• lei

Borrowed from Italian leale.

leal m or n (feminine singular leală, masculine plural leali, feminine and neuter plural leale)

1. loyal, faithful

From Middle English leel, lel, borrowed from Anglo-Norman leal and Old French leial, from Latin lēgālis.

• IPA^(key): /lil/

leal (comparative mair leal, superlative maist leal)

1. loyal
2. true, pure

Inherited from Old Spanish, from Latin legālis. See also the borrowed doublet legal.

• IPA^(key): /leˈal/ [leˈal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: le‧al

leal m or f (masculine and feminine plural leales)

1. adhering to the rules of propriety, fair, honest, loyal, true

   Synonym: fiel

   Antonym: desleal

• “leal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014