leur

Breton

Etymology

From Middle Breton leur, from Old Breton lor, from Proto-Brythonic *llọr, from Proto-Celtic *ɸlārom, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂rom, *ploh₂rom, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-. Cognate with Cornish leur, Irish lár, Manx laare, Scottish Gaelic làr, and Welsh llawr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈløːr/

Noun

leur f (plural leurioù)

1. floor, ground, surface
2. area
3. (nautical) deck

Cornish

Etymology

From Middle Cornish luer, from Old Cornish lor, from Proto-Brythonic *llọr, from Proto-Celtic *ɸlārom, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂rom, *ploh₂rom, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-. Cognate with Breton leur, Irish lár, Manx laare, Scottish Gaelic làr, and Welsh llawr. Doublet of flour (“deck”).

Noun

leur m (plural leuryow)

1. floor
2. ground, storey

Derived terms

• draylyer leur platt (“flatbed trailer”)
• golghin leur, lin leur (“floor cleaner”)
• leur a-woles (“ground floor”)
• leurlen (“carpet”)
• leurnedh (“area”)
• liesleur (“multistorey”)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French leur, from Old French lor, from Latin illōrum, genitive masculine plural of ille.

As a possessive it was originally uninflected (as still is Italian loro), but adopted the plural ending in Middle French. Feminine -e was hindered by the analogy of other possessives, all of which have but one plural form and in the case of notre, votre no gender agreement at all.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lœʁ/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Homophones: leurre, leurrent, leurres, leurs
• Rhymes: -œʁ

Pronoun

leur m pl or f pl

1. (personal, indirect) (to) them

   Je leur ai donné un coup de main.

   I gave them a hand.

Related terms

French personal pronouns

number	person	gender	nominative (subject)	accusative (direct complement)	dative (indirect complement)	locative (at)	genitive (of)	disjunctive (tonic)1	emphatic reflexive	relative	proximal	distal
singular	first	—	je, j’	me, m’		—	—	moi	moi-même	—
	second	—	tu	te, t’		—	—	toi	toi-même	—
	third	masculine	il2	le, l’	lui	y	en	lui	lui-même	celui	celui-ci	celui-là
		feminine	elle	la, l’				elle	elle-même	celle	celle-ci	celle-là
		indeterminate	on3, l’on (formal), ce4, c’, ça	—	—	—	—	—	—	ce	ceci	cela, ça
		reflexive	—	se, s’5		—	—	soi	soi-même	—
plural	first	—	nous	nous		—	—	nous	nous-mêmes	—
	second6	—	vous	vous		—	—	vous	vous-mêmes, vous-même6	—
	third	masculine	ils7	les	leur	y	en	eux7	eux-mêmes7	ceux	ceux-ci	ceux-là
		feminine	elles					elles	elles-mêmes	celles	celles-ci	celles-là

¹ The disjunctive (tonic) forms are also used after an explicit preposition (de/d’, à, pour, chez, dans, vers, sur, sous, ...), instead the accusative, dative, genitive, locative, or reflexive forms, where a preposition is implied.
² Il is also used as an impersonal nominative-only pronoun.
³ On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms).
⁴ The nominal indeterminate form ce (demonstrative) can also be used with the auxiliary verb être as a plural, instead of the proximal or distal gendered forms.
⁵ The reflexive third person singular forms (se or s’) for accusative or dative are also used as third person plural reflexive.
⁶ Vous is also used as the polite singular form, in which case the plural disjunctive tonic vous-mêmes becomes singular vous-même.
⁷ Ils, eux and eux-mêmes are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members.

Determiner

leur m or f (plural leurs)

1. their

   J'aperçois leur maison d'ici.

   I can see their house from here.

Derived terms

• le leur
• leurdit

Related terms

French possessive determiners

			possessee
			singular		plural
			m	f
possessor	singular	1st	mon1	ma	mes
		2nd	ton1	ta	tes
		3rd	son1	sa	ses
	plural	1st	notre		nos
		2nd	votre2		vos2
		3rd	leur		leurs

¹ Also used before feminine adjectives and nouns beginning with a vowel or mute h.
² Also used as the polite singular form.
For the singular persons there are gender-neutral neologisms man, tan, san. These are extremely rare.

Further reading

• “leur”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• relu

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French lor.

Pronoun

leur

1. (object pronoun) them

Descendants

• French: leur