lede

See also:LEDE,ledě,andleđe

English

WOTD – 3 May 2022

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation)enPR:lēd,IPA^(key):/liːd/

• Audio(UK):

  (file)

• (General American)IPA^(key):/lid/
• Homophones:lead,lied
• Rhymes:-iːd

Etymology 1

FromMiddle Englishlede,leode(“man; human being, person; lord, prince; God; sir; group, kind; race; a people, nation; human race; land, real property”)[and other forms],from three closely related words:

• Old Englishlēod(“man; chief, leader; (poetic) prince; a people, people group; nation”);
• Old Englishlēoda(“man; person; native of a country”),related tolēod;and
• Old Englishlēode(“men; people; the people of a country”),originally the plural oflēod.

Lēodis inherited fromProto-West Germanic*liudi,fromProto-Germanic*liudiz(“man; person; men; people”),fromProto-Indo-European*h₁léwdʰis(“man, people”),fromProto-Indo-European*h₁lewdʰ-(“to grow; people”).Doubletofleud.

cognates

The English word is cognate withDutchlieden(“people”),lui(den)(“people”),GermanLeute(“people”),Norwegianlyd(“people”),Polishlud(“people”),Russianлюди(ljudi,“people”),West Frisianlie(“people”).

Noun

lede(plurallede)

1. (obsolete)Aman;aperson.
   • p.1544,“fflodden ffeilde”, inJohn W[esley] Hales,Frederick J[ames] Furnivall,[Francis James] Child,W[illiam] Chappell,et al.,editors,Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript. Ballads and Romances,volume I, London:N[icholas]Trübner & Co.,[…],published1867,→OCLC,page318,lines9–12:

     & after tocallicehee [Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey] arriued, / like a nobleLeedof high degree, / & then toTurwinsoone he hyed, / there he thought to haue found KingHenery;[…]

   • 1836,J[oseph] Bosworth,“Friesic”, inThe Origin of the Germanic and Scandinavian Languages, and Nations:[…],London:Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green,→OCLC,page72:

     Sweet, yes sweet is over (beyond) measure / The marrying for the younglede(people); / Most sweet it is, I say yet (once more), / When it goes with the rede (counsel) of the elders.

     A translation of part of the first stanza of a song composedc.1650 by the West Frisian poetGysbert Japiks(1603–1666): “Swíet, ja swíet is 't, oer 'e míete / 'T Boáskien fóar 'e jongelie;/ Kreftich swíet is 't, sizz' ik jíette, / As it giet mei âlders ríe.”

   • c.1870s,“Transition English: From the Conquest toChaucer.—a.d.1066 toa.d.1352 [Sir Cleges.]”, inHenry Morley,editor,Shorter English Poems(Cassell’s Library of English Literature), London, Paris:Cassell & Company,[…],→OCLC,page28,column 2, lines409–412:

     Gramércy, liegé King, / This is to me a comforting: / I tell you sickerly / For to have land orlede/ Or other riches, so God me speed, / It is too much for me.

     Spelling modernized by the editor from a late-14th – early-15th-century text.

Usage notes

• In modern English, the word is only found as a consciousarchaism.

Alternative forms

• leed,leod

Related terms

• leden

Etymology 2

The lede of thisarticleis itsfirstparagraph,which says, “One of the greatest sensations in Whitman county was caused yesterday afternoon when Sheriff Canutt arrested Dr. T. D. Ferguson upon a charge of manslaughter. The information says that Dr. Ferguson committed the crime on April 21, 1904, ‘by unlawfully, willfully and feloniously slaying and killing one Agnes R. Downs.’” Thehed(i.e., theheadline,using a similarly misspelled form) says, “A prominent physician is charged with manslaughter”.

A deliberate misspelling oflead,originally used in instructions given to printers to indicate which paragraphs constitute the lede, intended to avoid confusion with the wordleadwhich may actually appear in the text of an article.Comparedek(“subhead”)(modified fromdeck) andhed(“headline”)(fromhead).

Noun

lede(pluralledes)

2. (chieflyUS,journalism)Theintroductoryparagraphor paragraphs of anewspaper,or anewsor othertypeofarticle;theleadorlead-in.[from mid 20th c.]

   Synonym:intro

   • 1979,J. W. Click, Russell N. Baird,Magazine Editing and Production,2nd edition, Dubuque, Iowa:W[illiam] C. Brown,→ISBN,page90:

     Readers usually see the lead picture and read its caption first, before reading theledeof the article, so the articleledeshould not be a repetition of the caption.

   • 1999,Mike Godwin,“Who’s a Journalist?—II: Welcome the New Journalists on the Internet”, inRobert H. Giles,Robert W. Snyder, editors,What’s Next?: Problems & Prospects of Journalism,New Brunswick, N.J., London:Transaction Publishers,published2001,→ISBN,page46:

     "How can Mr. On-line Guy learn to be a journalist if he didn't go through what I went through?" they [newspaper journalists] ask. "I needed the city editor to tell me how to write a graceful sentence, and I was a year into the job before I could craft a decentlede?"

   • 2007February,Brian McGrory,chapter 40, inStrangled,New York, N.Y.:Atria Books,→ISBN,page314:

     I was thrilled to be in possession of this nugget, which could probably take over theledeof my story. This essentially and truly implicated one of the most respected homicide detectives in Boston, all based on my initial tip.

   • 2008October 15,Michael Tomasky,“Michael Tomasky’s Blog: This Morning’s Stuff You Need to Know”, inThe Guardian‎^[3],London:Guardian News & Media,archived fromthe originalon6 March 2016:

     Thelede(as we spell it) story in today's NYT [The New York Times] is all about their new poll showing that[John] McCainis hurting himself, not[Barack] Obama,with the attacks.[…]If something's theledein the NYT, it tends to get discussed on cable TV all day, etc.

   • 2018,Branden Salas, “Reporting for Print Media”, inBasic Concept of Journalism,Waltham Abbey, Essex: Ed-Tech Press, published2020,→ISBN,page253:

     Like all forms of writing, there's no hard and fast rule about what makes a greatlede.A goodledechanges depending on the story you're writing.[…]Ledesvary wildly, but you'll start to notice patterns and, more importantly, what kinds ofledesyou like and feel are effective.

   • 2019,Naveed Saleh, “Narrative: Beginnings, Middles, and Ends”, inThe Writer’s Guide to Self-editing: Essential Tips for Online and Print Publishing,Jefferson, N.C.:McFarland & Company,→ISBN,part VII (Global Considerations),page225:

     Here are some different types ofledes:[…]· Scenarioledesuse narrative elements to describe a place of particular importance to the story. / · Narrativeledesbegin at a chronological beginning.[…]· First-person anecdotalledesbegin with a relevant anecdote that involves the writer. Service and celebrity pieces often begin with first-personledes.

Usage notes

• The word, which has entered ordinary usage, was originally journalistic jargon. In 1990, the American author and journalistWilliam Safire(1929–2009) was still able to say: “You will not find this spelling in dictionaries; it is still an insiders' variant, steadily growing in frequency of use.[…]Willledebreak out of its insider status and find its way into general use?[…]To suggest this is becoming standard would be misledeing[…]But it has earned its place as a variant spelling, soon to overtake the original spelling for the beginning of a news article.”

Derived terms

• bury the lede
• lede to kum
• nulede

Translations

introductory paragraph or paragraphs of a newspaper or other news article

• Armenian:լիդ(lid)
• Catalan:entrada(ca)f
• Czech:perex(cs)
• Danish:manchet
• Dutch:lead(nl)
• Estonian:juhtlõik
• Finnish:ingressi(fi)
• French:chapeau(fr)m
• German:Lead-Stilm
• Greek:εισαγωγική παράγραφοςf(eisagogikí parágrafos),εισαγωγή(el)f(eisagogí)
• Indonesian:teras berita
• Kazakh:лид(lid)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:ingress(no)m

  Nynorsk:ingressm

• Polish:lead(pl)m
• Portuguese:lide(pt)m
• Russian:лид(ru)m(lid)
• Slovak:per extensum
• Spanish:entradillaf
• Swedish:ingress(sv)c
• Ukrainian:лід(uk)(lid)

See also

• Glossary of journalism: Article components

Etymology 3

Seelead.

Verb

lede

1. Obsoletespelling oflead(“to guide”).

Further reading

• lead paragraphon Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “lede”,inMerriam-Webster Online Dictionary,Springfield, Mass.:Merriam-Webster,1996–present.
• “lede”inThe American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language,5th revised edition, Boston, Mass.:Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,2016,→ISBN;reproduced onTheFreeDictionary.com,Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.

Anagrams

• Deel,LEED,deel,dele,leed

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ˈlɪə.də/

Noun

lede

1. pluraloflid

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):[ˈlɛdɛ]

Noun

lede

1. vocativesingularofled

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ˈleːðə/,[ˈle̝ːð̩],[ˈle̝ːð̩˕˗ˠ]

Etymology 1

FromOld Norseleiða(“to lead”),fromProto-Germanic*laidijaną(“to lead”),cognate withEnglishlead,Germanleiten.It is a causative of the verb*līþaną(“to go, pass”).

Verb

lede(past tenselededeorledte,past participleledetorledt)

1. tomanage,run
2. tohead,direct
3. tolead,guide
4. toconduct

Conjugation

Inflection oflede

	present	past
simple	leder	lededeorledte
perfect	harledetorledt	havdeledetorledt
passive	ledes	lededesorledtes
participle	ledende	ledetorledt
imperative	led	—
infinitive	lede	—
auxiliary verb	have	—
gerund	leden	—

Derived terms

• aflede
• henlede
• indlede
• ledelse
• ledende
• leder
• ledetråd
• ledning
• retlede
• udlede
• vejlede
• vildlede

Etymology 2

FromOld Norseleita(“to seek, search”),fromProto-Germanic*wlaitōną,cognate withOld Englishwlātian(“to look upon”),Gothic𐍅𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍄𐍉𐌽(wlaitōn,“to look around”).

Verb

lede(past tenseledte,past participleledt)

1. tolook,searchfor

Conjugation

Inflection oflede

	present	past
simple	leder	ledte
perfect	harledt	havdeledt
passive	ledes	ledtes
participle	ledende	ledt
imperative	led	—
infinitive	lede	—
auxiliary verb	have	—
gerund	leden	—

Derived terms

• oplede

Etymology 3

FromOld Norseleiða,derived from the adjectiveOld Norseleiðr(Danishled(“disgusting”)).

Noun

ledec(singular definiteleden,not used in plural form)

1. disgust,distaste,loathing

Declension

Declension oflede

common gender	Singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	lede	leden
genitive	ledes	ledens

Antonyms

• lyst

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the correspondinglemmaform.

Adjective

lede

1. definiteofled
2. pluralofled

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes:-eːdə

Verb

lede

1. (dated or formal)singularpastsubjunctiveoflijden

Anagrams

• deel,dele,edel,leed

Galician

Verb

lede

1. second-personpluralimperativeofler

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ˈlɛ.de/
• Rhymes:-ɛde
• Hyphenation:lè‧de

Verb

lede

1. third-personsingularpresentindicativeofledere

Middle Dutch

Noun

lêde

1. dativesingularoflêet

Middle English

Etymology 1

FromOld Englishlēode(“people, men”),plural oflēod,fromProto-West Germanic*liudī,plural of*liud(i),fromProto-Germanic*liudīz,plural of*liudiz,fromProto-Indo-European*h₁léwdʰeyes,plural of*h₁léwdʰis.

Akin toOld Frisianliod,Old Saxonliud,Old Norseljóðr,lýðr,Old High Germanliut,Dutchlieden.

Alternative forms

• led,leed,leede,leyde,leod,leode,leude,lud,lude,lued,lyde
• (early)leoda,leodæ

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ˈleːd(ə)/

Noun

lede(pluralledesorledeor(early)leden)(poetic)

1. A (male)human;aman:
   1. Avassalorsubject.
   2. Aservantorretainer.
   3. Aruler;one with governingauthority.
2. (collectively)People,folk.
3. Anation;apeople.
4. Araceorstock;one'skindred.
5. Real estate;ownedland.

Descendants

• English:lede(obsolete)
• Scots:leid

References

• “lẹ̄d(e,n.”,inMED Online,Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

lede

1. Alternative form ofled(“lead”)

Etymology 3

Noun

lede

1. Alternative form ofleden(“language”)

Etymology 4

Verb

lede

1. Alternative form ofleden(“to lead”)
   • Perle Section 15. Anonymous 15th century.

     A blysful lyf þou says Ilede;

Etymology 5

Verb

lede

1. Alternative form ofleden(“to cover in lead”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

FromOld Norseleiða,andDanishlede.

Verb

lede(imperativeled,present tenseleder,passiveledes,simple past and past participleledaorledet,present participleledende)

1. tolead
2. toguide

Derived terms

• avlede
• innlede
• ledelse
• ledning

See also

• leie(Nynorsk)

References

• “lede”inThe Bokmål Dictionary.

Portuguese

Verb

lede

1. second-personpluralimperativeofler

Swedish

Etymology

From the nominal use (masculine inflection) of adjectiveled(“loathsome”),in the more original synonymden lede frestaren(“the loathsometempter”).

Adjective

lede

1. definitenatural masculinesingularofled

Noun

ledec

1. the evil one, theloathsomeordisgustingone; thedevil,Satan

Usage notes

Most commonly asden lede.

See also

• lede fi