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LATIN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

levis.

light, not heavy

5 characters2 syllables approx.Latina language

Meaning & usage

adj[ˈɫɛ.wɪs]Classical-Latin[ˈlɛː.vis]

  1. light, not heavy

    declension-3 · literally · two-termination

  2. easy to digest

    declension-3 · poetic · two-termination · usually

  3. quick, swift, fleet, nimble, rapid

    declension-3 · two-termination

  4. slight, trifling, small

    declension-3 · poetic · two-termination · usually

  5. light, trivial, trifling, unimportant, inconsiderable, slight, little, petty, easy, dispensable

    Classical-Latin · declension-3 · figuratively · two-termination

  6. light, light-minded, capricious, fickle, inconstant, unreliable, false

    declension-3 · figuratively · two-termination

  7. mild, gentle, pleasant

    declension-3 · figuratively · rare · two-termination
Where this word comes from

From Proto-Italic *leɣʷis, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁léngʰus, from *h₁lengʷʰ- (“lightweight”). The original PIE u-stem adjective was remade into a Latin i-stem, perhaps due to contamination from brevis (“short”), though De Vaan suggests that such a development is typical for Latin regardless. Influence from brevis may also explain the lack of a nasal in the Latin term, though De Vaan provides a nasalless reconstruction of the PIE form itself. Cognates include Sanskrit लघु (laghú), Ancient Greek ἐλᾰφρός (elăphrós), ἐλᾰχῠ́ς (elăkhŭ́s) and Old English lēoht (English light).

adj[ˈɫeː.wɪs]Classical-Latin[ˈlɛː.vis]

  1. smooth, not rough, smoothed, shining, rubbed slippery

    Classical-Latin · declension-3 · literally · poetic · two-termination

  2. smooth, not rough, smoothed, shining, rubbed without hair, beardless

    Classical-Latin · declension-3 · literally · poetic · two-termination

  3. smooth, not rough, smoothed, shining, rubbed youthful, delicate, beautiful; finely dressed, spruce, effeminate

    Classical-Latin · declension-3 · literally · poetic · two-termination

  4. rubbed smooth, ground down, softened, soft

    declension-3 · rare · two-termination

  5. (of speech) smooth, flowing

    Classical-Latin · declension-3 · rare · two-termination
Where this word comes from

Uncertain. Possibly from Proto-Italic *lēiwis, from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁y-u- (“smooth”) and cognate to Ancient Greek λεῖος (leîos, “smooth, plain, level, hairless, soft”), Ancient Greek λίς (lís, “smooth”). Or from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyH- (“to smear”) and cognate to Latin līmus (“mud, slime, muck”), English slime, Ancient Greek λίμνη (límnē, “marsh”). Likely related to Latin oblīvīscor (“forget”).

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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.