English

Noun

Levis pl ‎(plural only)

1. descendants of the Israelite tribe of Levi; Levites

   As the Cohens are descendants of the Tribe of Priests, so the Levis are the tribal descendants of the Levites.

2. alternative spelling for Levi’s, a brand of blue jeans

Anagrams

• Elvis, evils, lives, slive, veils, vleis

Esperanto

Verb

levis

1. past of levi

Ido

Verb

levis

1. past of levar

Latin

Etymology 1

From Proto-Italic *leɣʷis (with possible contamination from *breɣʷis), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʰwih₂-, from *h₁lengʰu-, from *h₁lengʷʰ- ‎(“light”). Cognates include Sanskrit लघु ‎(laghú), Ancient Greek ἐλαφρός ‎(elaphrós) and ἐλαχύς ‎(elakhús) and Old English lēoht (English light).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈle.wis/, [ˈɫɛ.wɪs]

Adjective

levis m, f ‎(neuter leve); third declension

1. light (not heavy)
2. quick, swift
3. fickle
4. dispensable
5. trivial, trifling
   • c. 50 CE, Seneca the Younger, Phaedra, 607

     Curae leues locuntur, ingentes stupent.

     Trivial concerns talk, great ones are speechless.

Inflection

Third declension.

• comparative: levior, superlative: levissimus

Antonyms

• (light): gravis
• (quick, swift): lentus

Derived terms

• levitās
• levō

Descendants

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek λεῖος ‎(leîos, “smooth, plain, level, hairless, soft”), from Proto-Indo-European *ley-w-, from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)ley- ‎(“slime, slimy, sticky”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈleː.wis/, [ˈɫeː.wɪs]

Adjective

lēvis m, f ‎(neuter lēve); third declension

1. smooth, smoothed
2. (substantive) smoothness

Alternative forms

• laevis (incorrect)

Inflection

Third declension.

Related terms

• oblīvīscor

References

• levis in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• levis in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• LEVIS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “levis”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • a man of character, with a strong personality: vir constans, gravis (opp. homo inconstans, levis)
    
  • light infantry: milites levis armaturae
    
  • (ambiguous) men of sound opinions: homines graves (opp. leves)