léu

/ˈlɛw/

//ˈlɛw// noun

The verdict

“léu” is uncommon Portuguese (frequency #69,714 among 581 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#69,714
frequency rank, Portuguese
581
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - inação, ociosidade, vagar

Corpus desk

Index PT-leu · léu · Portuguese

léu · rank #69,714 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #69,714
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 581
  • PHOTO-FINISH láctico

Nearest frequency peer: láctico (-1 rank slots)

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.

Ranks da cauda longa perto de “léu”

Faixa escassa: as barras invertem o rank para o raro ler-se mais curto

corpus weight

What this shows Vista da cauda longa: onde “léu” se situa face a ranks portugueses igualmente raros.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for léu
PropertyValue
Headwordléu
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈlɛw/
Letters3
Frequency rank#69,714
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cauda longa: rank de “léu” em português

Esta escala corre do núcleo do português quotidiano (esquerda) até o rastro de formas raras (direita).léucai nesta cauda de raridade:

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

Os ticks avançam em logaritmo; cada um é da ordem de dez vezes mais raro. Vizinhos raros da mesma faixa: “láctico” (#69,713), “marão” (#69,721), “meal” (#69,725). Entre 581 lemas com “L”, “léu” fica em #69,714. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

léu is uncommon Portuguese at frequency #69,714 among 581 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈlɛw/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for léu, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Portuguese form is léu, spelled L-É-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    inação, ociosidade, vagar
  2. 2
    ocasião, ensejo, oportunidade

Synonyms

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 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "léu"?
"léu" is spelled L-É-U. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈlɛw/.
What does "léu" mean?
As a noun, "léu" means: inação, ociosidade, vagar
How do you pronounce "léu"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "léu" is /ˈlɛw/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "léu" come from?
"léu" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 Portuguese words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list