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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

lib.

liberal

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈlɪb/

  1. liberal

    countable · uncountable
    own the libs

  2. liberation

    countable · uncountable
    women's lib

  3. library

    countable · uncountable

  4. libertarian

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Abbreviation for various words beginning in lib-.

noun/ˈlɪb/

  1. A potion; magic potion; charm; concoction.

    Scotland · UK · dialectal
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English libbe, from Old English lybb, lyb (“medicine, drug, potion, poison, charm”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubi, from Proto-Germanic *lubją (“wort, herb, drug, poison”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-, *lewb- (“to peel, break, damage”), from Proto-Indo-European *lew- (“to cut, remove, prune, separate”). Cognate with German Luppe, Lüppe (“salve, ointment, plant juice, medicine, magic”), Icelandic lyf (“medicine, drug”).

verb/ˈlɪb/

  1. To geld; castrate; emasculate (usually said of animals).

    Northern-England · Scotland · UK · dialectal · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *libben (suggested by libbyng (“gelding”), lybbere (“gelder”)), related to Dutch lubben (“to castrate, emasculate”), Dutch libbe (“a steer”), lubbert (“a eunuch”). Further relation uncertain. Possibly related to Old English *lybban (“to doctor”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubbjan; or perhaps related to Old English lappa, læppa (“lappet, piece, section, lobe, portion, district”). More at lop.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.