lev

Etymology

It is borrowed from Bulgarian лев (lev, “lion”),^[2][3][4][1] a variant of лъв (lăv, “lion”),^[1][5][6] the lion being an old symbol of Bulgaria.^[7] The Bulgarian word goes back to Old Church Slavonic львъ (lĭvŭ, “lion”),^[7][3][8][1] which is probably from Old High German lewo, from Latin leō, the source of lion.^[7][3][9] Klein instead derives the Slavic word through Gothic from Ancient Greek λέων (léōn, “lion”).^[8] The name parallels that of the Romanian leu.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The basic monetary unit of Bulgaria: 1902, in the Encyclopædia Britannica.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1900,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1900–1905.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline dates the currency itself to 1881,^[10] and Wiktionary gives its life as Bulgaria's currency as 1880 to 2025.^[1] It was divided into 100 stotinki.^[4][5][1] The word also names a coin or note worth one lev.^[3] The usual plural is leva,^[2][4][3] with levs as a less common English plural;^[3][5] the Shorter Oxford also records leva as a singular.^[5]

Timeline

• 1902 – the monetary unit of Bulgaria.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1900.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The basic monetary unit of Bulgaria, divided into 100 stotinki.^[4][3][2][1]
2. A coin or banknote worth one lev.^[3]

Related words

• leu
• lion
• Leo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com