lion
/ˈlaɪən/noun, adjective
lion is a noun meaning “A big cat, Panthera leo, native to Africa, India and formerly much of Europe” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled L-I-O-N and has 2 syllables, and it appears 18 times per million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of lion is lions.
What does lion mean?
noun
- 1
A big cat, Panthera leo, native to Africa, India and formerly much of Europe.
Tigers and lions share a common ancestor from a few million years ago.
- 2
A male lion, as opposed to a lioness, which is characterized by having a flowing shaggy mane and taking little part in hunting, which can be done cooperatively.
- 3
Any of various extant and extinct big cats, especially the mountain lion.
- 4
A Chinese foo dog.
- 5
A person who shows attributes associated with the lion, such as strength, courage, or ferocity.
- 6
A famous person regarded with interest and curiosity.
- 7
A light brown color that resembles the fur of a lion.
- 8
An old Scottish coin, with a lion on the obverse, worth 74 shillings.
adjective
- 1
Of the light brown color that resembles the fur of a lion.
noun
- 1
A player for National Football League's Detroit Lions.
- 2
A player for Canadian Football League's B.C. Lions.
- 3
A player for the England football team.
- 4
A player or supporter of the Brisbane Lions.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce lion?
- /ˈlaɪən/
Lion has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-lion.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of lion
- lions plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is lion?
Lion appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,667th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Lion in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | lion, lionne , leon |
| German | Löwe, Leu, Löwchen, Löwlein, Löwin |
| Portuguese | leão |
| Spanish | león |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does lion come from?
From Middle English lyoun, lion, leon, borrowed from Old French lion, from Latin leō, (accusative: leōnem), from Ancient Greek λέων (léōn), of unclear origin. Doublet of Leo, leu, lev, and Lyon. Displaced Old English lēo, from the same Latin source.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).