Leigh

//liː// name, noun

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from Middle English, variant of Lee.
  2. 2
    A unisex given name transferred from the surname.
  3. 3
    A unisex given name transferred from the surname.; A female given name, Female equivalent of Lee. UK
  4. 4
    A number of places in England:; A town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester (OS grid ref SD6500).
  5. 5
    A number of places in England:; A village and civil parish in Dorset (OS grid ref ST6108).
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    A number of places in England:; The Leigh, a hamlet and civil parish in Tewkesbury borough, Gloucestershire (OS grid ref SO8626).
  2. 7
    A number of places in England:; A village and civil parish in Sevenoaks district, Kent (OS grid ref TQ5446). Former spelling: Lyghe.
  3. 8
    A number of places in England:; A civil parish in East Staffordshire district, Staffordshire, which includes Church Leigh, Lower Leigh and Upper Leigh.
  4. 9
    A number of places in England:; A village and civil parish in Mole Valley district, Surrey (OS grid ref TQ2246).
  5. 10
    A number of places in England:; A village and civil parish in north Wiltshire (OS grid ref SU0692).
  6. 11
    A number of places in England:; A small village and civil parish (served by Leigh and Bransford Parish Council) in Malvern Hills district, Worcestershire (OS grid ref SO7853).
Noun
  1. 1
    A meadow. archaic

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English legh, lege, lei (“clearing, open ground”) from Old English lēah (“clearing in a forest”) from Proto-Germanic *lauhaz (“meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *lówkos (“field, meadow”). Akin to Old Frisian lāch (“meadow”), Old Saxon lōh (“forest, grove”) (Middle Dutch loo (“forest, thicket”); Dutch -lo (suffix forming place names)), Old High German lōh (“covered clearing, low bushes”), Old Norse ló (“clearing, meadow”). More at Waterloo.

Etymology 2

From the nominative case of Old English lēah (“wood, meadow”), 'dweller by the wood or clearing'.

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