Standard Lemma guide

leathery

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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/ˈlɛðəɹi/
US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET: L EH1 DH ER0 IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

adj

Meaning 1

Having the consistency, feel, or texture of leather.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

The beef jerky was tough and leathery.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

resembling or made to resemble leather; tough but pliable

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: coriaceous, leathered, leatherlike

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Celtic *letrosbor. Proto-Germanic *leþrą Proto-West Germanic *leþr Old English leþer Middle English lether English leather Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English leathery From leather + -y.

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

Bulgarian: кожен (kožen) — having properties of leather
Catalan: coriaci — having properties of leather
Finnish: nahkamainen — having properties of leather
Finnish: nahkainen — having properties of leather
Finnish: nahistunut — having properties of leather
French: coriace — having properties of leather
German: ledern — having properties of leather
Portuguese: coriáceo — having properties of leather
Spanish: coriáceo — having properties of leather
Swedish: läderartat — having properties of leather

Word forms

Inflections and variants

more leathery — comparative
leatherier — comparative
most leathery — superlative
leatheriest — superlative

Word family

Derived and related words

Derived: leatheriness, leathery jacket, leathery turtle

Related: tough, leather

Semantic map

Other relationships

Sources

Where this information comes from

Wiktionary data was expanded into structured fields by Wiktextract. Matching Princeton WordNet definitions and semantic relationships, plus CMUdict ARPABET pronunciations, are merged into this same canonical word page.

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Real reading context

Examples

Meaning relationships

Meaning relationships

leathery in complete knowledge articles