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Definition 2025

lēts

lēts

See also: lets, let's, Lets, and LETS

Latvian

Adjective

lēts (def. lētais, comp. lētāks, sup. vislētākais; adv. lēti)

  1. cheap (that which can be bought with little money)
    lēts tērps‎ ― cheap suit, outfit
    lētas konfektes‎ ― cheap candy
    kam dārzā bites, tam medus lēts‎ ― he who has bees in (his) garden has cheap honey
  2. cheap (not demanding much money, means, etc. for its realization)
    lēta zemes apstrādāšana‎ ― cheap land cultivation
    lēta ražošana‎ ― cheap production, manufacture
  3. cheap (who works for little pay)
    tie tomēr bija pie strādāšanas visparocīgākie un lētākie‎ ― these (peasants) are the handiest and cheapest for work
  4. cheap (easy to do, to achieve, and therefore of little value)
    lēta uzvara‎ ― cheap victory
    lēta, vīzdegunīga popularitāte‎ ― cheap, condescending popularity
  5. cheap, trite (ostentatious, without deeper content)
    lēta gaume‎ ― cheap taste
    lēti joki‎ ― cheap jokes

Declension

Antonyms

Derived terms

References

  1. ↑ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992), “lēts”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, ISBN 9984-700-12-7

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *lētas, from Proto-Indo-European *le- ‎(“to let, to allow, to permit, to tolerate”) (whence also Latvian lēns ‎(“slow”), q.v.) with an extra suffix -to. The semantic evolution was probably: “loose, slack, tired” (“allowed to go down”) > “slow” > “light, easy” (the basic meaning in 17th-century texts) > “easy to purchase” > “cheap” (by the mid-18th century). The earlier meaning of “light, easy” can still be seen in compounds like lētticīgs ‎(“credulous; who believes easily”) and in some uses of the adverbial form lēti. Cognates include Lithuanian lė̃tas ‎(“slow, calm, gentle”), Latin lētum ‎(“death, end, ruin”).[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [lǣːts]

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