name · noun · verb · 6 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
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
/lɛk/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɛk
CMU ARPABET:L EH1 K
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
name
Meaning 1
A river, the northern arm of the River Rhine in the Netherlands.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
An aggregation of male animals for the purposes of courtship and display.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: biology, natural-sciences
Examples
1975, Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, figure caption, 2000, page 333, Each of the three displaying cocks occupies a small territory at the mating center of the lek.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
The currency unit of Albania, divided into 100 qindarka.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
1997, Igor Artimiev, Gary J. Fine, Country Studies: Albania, Ira W. Lieberman, Stilpon S. Nestor, Raj M. Desai, Between State and Market: Mass Privatization in Transition Economies, page 178, Enterprise shares are sold at voucher auctions in exchange for either immaterial privatization leks (through a bank transfer from the bidder's privatization lek account) or through privatization vouchers, which are submitted at the time of bidding.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
verb
Meaning 4
To take part in the courtship and display behaviour of a lek.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Topics: biology, natural-sciences
Examples
2010, Boaz Yuval, Jorge Hendrichs 17: Behavior of Fruit Fly in the Genus Ceratitis (Dacinae: Ceratitidini), Martin Aluja, Allen Norrbom (editors), Fruit Flies (Tephritidae): Phylogeny and Evolution of Behavior, page 437, In a recent study (Yuval et al. 1998), the size and weight of males captured either lekking or resting at the same time in the vicinity of leks were measured.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
verb
Meaning 5
To play.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, Yorkshire, colloquial, dialectal
Examples
T’lads is lekkin i t’park.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
the basic unit of money in Albania
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: Albanian monetary unit
History
Etymology
From Germanic roots meaning "play". In the biology sense, it comes specifically from Swedish lek (“child's play”), by means of Swedish leka (“to play”). The verb is first attested in English in 1871 and the noun at least as early as 1867.
From Albanian lek, named after Alexander the Great, whose name is often shortened to Leka in Albanian.
Across languages
Translations
27 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Finnish:
soidin
— an aggregation of male animals for the purposes of courtship and display
German:
Lek
— an aggregation of male animals for the purposes of courtship and display
German:
Balzarena
— an aggregation of male animals for the purposes of courtship and display
Norwegian:
spill
— an aggregation of male animals for the purposes of courtship and display
Norwegian Bokmål:
lek
— an aggregation of male animals for the purposes of courtship and display
Russian:
ток
(tok)
— an aggregation of male animals for the purposes of courtship and display
Swedish:
lek
— an aggregation of male animals for the purposes of courtship and display
Albanian:
leku
— currency of Albania
Albanian:
lek
— currency of Albania
Armenian:
լեկ
(lek)
— currency of Albania
Chinese Cantonese:
列克
(lit6 hak1)
— currency of Albania
Chinese Mandarin:
列克
(lièkè)
— currency of Albania
Finnish:
lek
— currency of Albania
German:
Lek
— currency of Albania
Greek:
λεκ
(lek)
— currency of Albania
Hungarian:
lek
— currency of Albania
Norwegian Bokmål:
lek
— currency of Albania
Polish:
lek
— currency of Albania
Russian:
лек
(lek)
— currency of Albania
Serbo-Croatian:
lek
— currency of Albania
Swedish:
lek
— currency of Albania
Finnish:
soidintaa
— to take part in the courtship and display behaviour of a lek
Finnish:
olla soitimella
— to take part in the courtship and display behaviour of a lek
Polish:
tokować
— to take part in the courtship and display behaviour of a lek
Russian:
токова́ть
(tokovátʹ)
— to take part in the courtship and display behaviour of a lek
Swedish:
leka
— to take part in the courtship and display behaviour of a lek
Swedish:
spela
— to take part in the courtship and display behaviour of a lek
