lion

Alternative forms

• lyon (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English lyoun, lion, leon, borrowed from Old French lion, from Latin leō, (accusative: leōnem), from Ancient Greek λέων (léōn), of unclear origin. Doublet of Leo, leu, lev, and Lyon. Displaced Old English lēo.

Pronunciation

• enPR: lī'ən, IPA^(key): /ˈlaɪən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪən

Noun

lion (plural lions or (rare) lion)

2. A big cat, Panthera leo, native to Africa, India and formerly much of Europe.

   Tigers and lions share a common ancestor from a few million years ago.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 311:

     For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.

   1. (in particular) A male lion, as opposed to a lioness.
3. (by extension) Any of various extant and extinct big cats, especially the mountain lion.
4. A Chinese foo dog.
5. A person who shows attributes associated with the lion, such as strength, courage, or ferocity.
   • 2003, Peter Armstrong, Angus McBride, Stirling Bridge & Falkirk 1297–98: William Wallace's Rebellion:

     It was said of [Edward Plantaganet] that ‘he was a lion for pride and ferocity but a pard for inconstancy and changeableness, not keeping his word or promise but excusing himself with fair words’.

6. A famous person regarded with interest and curiosity.
   • 1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

     During this period, we were the lions of the neighbourhood; and, no doubt, strangers from the ​distant villages were taken to see the "Karhowrees" (white men), in the same way that countrymen, in a city, are gallanted to the Zoological Gardens.

   • 1844, John Wilson, Essay on the Genius, and Character of Burns:

     Such society was far more enjoyable than that of Edinburgh, for here he was not a lion, but a man.

   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 84:

     The men were delighted to go, and became the lions of the following season in Adelaide.

   • 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “ch. 4”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

     Rose Waterford was a cynic. She looked upon life as an opportunity for writing novels and the public as her raw material. Now and then she invited members of it to her house if they showed an appreciation of her talent and entertained with proper lavishness. She held their weakness for lions in good-humoured contempt, but played to them her part of the distinguished woman of letters with decorum.

   • 1965 August, Mississippi Phil Ochs, “The Newport Fuzz Festival”, in The Realist‎, number 61, retrieved 2022-11-13, page 11:

     Heated comments were exchanged, and, before anyone could say, "festival," the two lions of the folk power structure were rolling in the dirt.

   • 2014, Camper Van Beethoven (lyrics and music), “City of Industry”, in El Camino Real, performed by Camper Van Beethoven:

     So bring a basket for the lions / Of City of Industry

7. A light brown color that resembles the fur of a lion. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   lion:  

8. (historical) An old Scottish coin, with a lion on the obverse, worth 74 shillings.

Adjective

lion (not comparable)

1. Of the light brown color that resembles the fur of a lion.

See also

• lion on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Panthera leo on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:lion on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Appendix:Animals
• Appendix:English collective nouns

Anagrams

• LINO, Nilo-, Olin, lino, loin, noil

Etymology

Inherited from Old French lion, a semi-learned borrowing from Latin leōnem, from Ancient Greek λέων (léōn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ljɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /li.ɔ̃/

• Audio (Quebec):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔ̃
• Homophones: lions, Lyon

Noun

lion m (plural lions, feminine lionne)

1. (zoology) lion
   1. (specifically) male lion
2. (figuratively) lion (brave person)

   se défendre comme un lion ― to defend oneself with great courage

3. (heraldry) lion
4. (figuratively, dated) lion (celebrity; famous person)
5. (dated) a style of elegant young man that came after the dandy

Further reading

• “lion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• loin

Etymology

From Portuguese leão.

Noun

lion

1. lion

Etymology

From English leone.

Noun

lion

1. leone (currency of Sierra Leone)

Noun

lion

1. Alternative form of lyoun

Alternative forms

• leon, leun, liun, lÿon

Etymology

Semi-learned borrowing from Latin leō, leōnem, derived from Ancient Greek λέων (léōn).

Noun

lion oblique singular, m (oblique plural lions, nominative singular lions, nominative plural lion)

1. lion (animal)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liˈuŋ/

Noun

lion m

1. lion (animal)

   Synonym: leon