lief
/ˈliːf/
lief adjective: beloved, dear, agreeable.
Adjective
lief (comparative liefer or liever, superlative liefest or lievest)
Adverb
lief (comparative liefer or liever, superlative liefest)
- Readily, willingly, rather.
- I'd as lief have one as t'other.
- 1. Gent. And thou the Veluet; thou art good veluet;
thou'rt a three pild-peece I warrant thee: I had as liefe
be a Lyst of an English Kersey, as be pil'd, as thou art
pil'd, for a French Veluet. [...]c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
Examples of lief in a sentence
- As far as physiognomy goes, the winners protest that they would as lief have foregone the double points, and the money.1826, Thomas Byerly, John Timbs, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction:
- these great masters of the art, who would far liefer see us little ones practice it, than themselves engage [...].1869, RD Blackmoore, Lorna Doone, section II:
- I'd as lief put on my hat and cane and help you if you think they'll be too heavy.1902, Josephine Spenser, Corner in Chrysanthemums:
Synonyms of lief
Forms of lief
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | liefer |
| comparative | liever |
| superlative | liefest |
| superlative | lievest |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | liefer |
| comparative | liever |
| superlative | liefest |
Origin of lief
From Middle English lef, leve, leef, from Old English lēof, from Proto-West Germanic *leub, from Proto-Germanic *leubaz. Cognate with Saterland Frisian ljo, ljoo, ljoof, West Frisian leaf, Dutch lief, German Low German leev, German lieb, Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk ljuv, Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍆𐍃 (liufs), Russian любо́вь (ljubóvʹ), Polish luby. For the adverb, compare German lieber, Dutch liever (“preferably, rather”).
Words formed from lief
Words that rhyme with lief
Questions about lief
- What does lief mean?
- Lief means beloved, dear, agreeable.
- How do you use lief in a sentence?
- As far as physiognomy goes, the winners protest that they would as lief have foregone the double points, and the money.
- What part of speech is lief?
- Lief can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce lief?
- Lief is pronounced /ˈliːf/.
Words near lief in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lief (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lief.wav.
Cite this entry: “lief.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lief. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.