land

Reading level: easy

Estimated CEFR level: A1 — Beginner

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the land on which real estate is located
  2. noun material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use)
  3. noun territory over which rule or control is exercised

Etymology

From Middle English lond, land, from Old English land, from Proto-West Germanic *land, from Proto-Germanic *landą (“land”), from Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- (“land, heath”). Cognates Cognate with Scots laund (“land”), Yola lhoan, lloan, loan, londe, lone (“land”), North Frisian loun, luin, lun, Lön, lönj, löön (“land”), Saterland Frisian Lound (“land”), West Frisian lân (“land”), Limburgish Land, landj, Laïnt (“land”), Dutch land (“land, country”), Luxembourgish and German Land (“land, country, state”), Vilamovian łaond (“land”), Danish, Elfdalian, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish land (“land, country, shore, territory”). Non-Germanic cognates include Old Irish lann (“heath”), Welsh llan (“enclosure”), Breton lann (“heath”), Old Church Slavonic лѧдо (lędo), from Proto-Slavic *lędo (“heath, wasteland”), French lande (“heath”) and Albanian lëndinë (“heath, grassland”).

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