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LATIN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

lex.

law; motion, bill, statute; principle; condition;

3 characters1 syllables approx.Latina language

Meaning & usage

noun[ˈɫeːks]Classical-Latin[ˈlɛks]

  1. the legal machinery of a state, the law

    declension-3
    lēge
    lēge agere

  2. a law, statute, bill

    declension-3
    dūra lēx, sed lēx

  3. the laws regarded as a body, the constitution

    declension-3 · plural

  4. legal right or title

    declension-3
    lēge

  5. a rule made by any authority, ordinance, regulation, precept

    declension-3

  6. a rule or principle of any art or craft, esp. the rules of scansion or versification

    declension-3
    lēx poētica
    numerī lēge solūtī

  7. a law or rule established by divine authority or universally accepted by mankind

    declension-3
    lēx bellī

  8. a principle inherent in the nature of a thing, a condition of existence

    declension-3

  9. what is allowable or right, the due measure, propriety

    declension-3
    lēgem priōrum ēgredī

  10. rule, control, dominion

    declension-3
    ad lēgem
    sine lēge

  11. a compact or agreement stipulating the terms for the performance of work, a contract

    declension-3
    lēx operī faciundō

  12. a necessary condition for the fulfilment of a promise, contract, etc., a term, condition, stipulation

    declension-3
    hāc lēge, eā lēge (ut), hīs lēgibus
    suā lēge, meā lēge, suīs lēgibus

  13. terms of peace or friendship

    declension-3 · plural
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *lḗǵs? Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *lḗgʰs? Proto-Italic *lēks Latin lēx From Proto-Italic *lēks. The usual etymology derives the term from Proto-Indo-European *lēǵ-s, a root nomen actionis from *leǵ- (“to gather”), whence also legō. Palmer (1906) proposes an alternative origin in Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-s, root nomen actionis from *legʰ- (“to lie, to be in resting position”). Compare typologically English law, Russian уложе́ние (uložénije) from this PIE root. This alternative etymology is endorsed by Fortson.

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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.