lene

/ˈliːn/

//ˈliːn// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"lene" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“lene” is uncommon English (frequency #84,460 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#84,460
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The smooth breathing (spiritus lenis).

Corpus desk

Index EN-lene · lene · English

lene · rank #84,460 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #84,460
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH Lehtinen

Nearest frequency peer: Lehtinen (-2 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “lene”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “lene” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for lene
PropertyValue
Headwordlene
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈliːn/
Letters4
Frequency rank#84,460
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “lene” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).lenefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Lehtinen” (#84,458), “likeliest” (#84,463), “Lippe” (#84,465). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “lene” is #84,460. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

lene is uncommon English at frequency #84,460 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈliːn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for lene, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Etymologically, the entry records: Anglicisation of Latin lēnis. Doublet of lenis. The correct English form is lene, spelled L-E-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The smooth breathing (spiritus lenis).
  2. 2
    A voiceless, or unaspirated, stopped consonant, such as Greek pi, kappa, or tau.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how lene appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. When in a crasis, a lene consonant […] is combined with an aspirated vowel, the lene is always changed (except in the Ionic dialect) into the corresponding aspirate […]

Etymology

Anglicisation of Latin lēnis. Doublet of lenis.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "lene"?
"lene" is spelled L-E-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈliːn/.
What does "lene" mean?
As a noun, "lene" means: The smooth breathing (spiritus lenis).
How do you pronounce "lene"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lene" is /ˈliːn/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "lene"?
Anglicisation of Latin lēnis. Doublet of lenis. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lene", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

lota#84,470lade#84,444Kort#84,436Melb#84,506

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list