lav

See also: LAV

Translingual

Symbol

lav

(international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Latvian.

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /læv/
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -æv

Noun

lav (plural lavs)

(Britain, slang) Clipping of lavatory.
Please, miss, I need to go to the lav.
- Quoted in 2006, Matt Houlbrook, Queer London (page 151)
  If you had too much slap on when you went out . . . your mates say too much slap on your ecaf. Yeah. Oh really girl? Yes . . . Go in the lavs here and have a look.
(film, informal) Clipping of lavalier.
When you’re recording interviews, it’s best to use a lav.

Synonyms

See Thesaurus:bathroom

Derived terms

lavvy

Translations

non-offensive slang for a lavatory

Finnish: vessa (fi)
French: petit coin (fr) m
German: Klo (de) n
Spanish: retrete (es) m

Anagrams

AVL, Val, Vla., val

Aneityum

Etymology

Borrowed from Bislama lav (“to laugh”).

Verb

lav

to laugh

References

Greenhill, S.J., Blust. R, & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271-283.

Czech

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈlaf]

Noun

lav f

genitive plural of lava

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse lágr, from Proto-Germanic *lēgaz, cognate with Norwegian låg, Swedish låg. English low is borrowed from Old Norse.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈlaːˀv/, [ˈlæˀʋ], [ˈlæwˀ]

Adjective

lav (neuter lavt, plural and definite singular attributive lave)

low

Inflection

Inflection of lav
	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Common singular	lav	lavere	lavest²
Neuter singular	lavt	lavere	lavest²
Plural	lave	lavere	lavest²
Definite attributive¹	lave	lavere	laveste
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse lag (“layer”), from Proto-Germanic *lagą. Doublet of lag and layer (the Old Norse plural lǫg lives on in Danish lov and English law).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈlaw(ˀ)/, [ˈlɑw], [ˈlɑwˀ]

Noun

lav n (singular definite lavet, plural indefinite lav)

guild

Inflection

Declension of lav

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
neuter gender	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	lav	lavet	lav	lavene
genitive	lavs	lavets	lavs	lavenes

Derived terms

nouns: bådelav, ejerlav, håndværkerlav, vandrelav, vandrerlav, vindmøllelav, vejlav

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Norwegian lav, derived from the verb Old Norse lafa (“to dangle”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈlaw/, [ˈlɑw]

Noun

lav c or n (singular definite laven or lavet, plural indefinite laver)

lichen

Inflection

Declension of lav

either gender	Singular		Plural
either gender	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	lav	laven lavet	laver	laverne
genitive	lavs	lavens lavets	lavers	lavernes

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈlaːˀv/, [ˈlæˀʋ], [ˈlæwˀ]

Verb

lav

imperative of lave

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse lágr and Danish lav.

Alternative forms

låg (Nynorsk also)

Adjective

lav (neuter singular lavt, definite singular and plural lave, comparative lavere, indefinite superlative lavest, definite superlative laveste)

low

Derived terms

Terms derived from lav (adjective)

lavbudsjett
lavland
lavlønnet

lavsesong
lavsko
lavtliggende

lavtrykk
lavtysk
lavvann, lavvatn

Etymology 2

From Danish lav, itself a borrowing from Norwegian lav. Related to the verb lave.

Noun

lav m (definite singular laven, indefinite plural laver, definite plural lavene)
lav n (definite singular lavet, indefinite plural laver, definite plural lava or lavene)

lichen

References

“lav” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From the verb lava (“to dangle”), from Old Norse lafa. Cognate with Norn lav, Icelandic laf and Swedish lav.

Noun

lav n (definite singular lavet, indefinite plural lav, definite plural lava)

lichen
something that hangs down
1. a cobweb that dangles from the roof
2. rain and dew drops in a tree
3. ash from leaves or needles that hangs on burnt twigs

Derived terms

bjørkelav
bladlav
brunkrinslav (“Melanelia”)
brødlav
einelav
ekornlav, ikornlav
furelav, furulav
gardlav
gjerdelav
granlav
grønlav
gullav
gulsottlav
islandslav, matlav, øyrelav (“Cetraria islandica”)
jervelav
kartlav (“Rhizocarpon”)
lungelav
mannalav (“Aspicilia esculenta”)
messinglav, massinglav (“Xanthoria parietina”)
navlelav
reinlav, reinsdyrlav (“Cladina”)
saltlav (“Stereocaulon”)
skinnlav
skjegglav (“hanging lichen of the genus Usnea or Alectoria”)
skorpelav
snømållav (“Melanelia olivacea”)
steinlav
trønderlav (“Erioderma”)
ulvelav (“Letharia vulpina”)

References

“lav” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *lьvъ, from a Germanic language.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lâʋ/

Noun

lȁv m (Cyrillic spelling ла̏в)

lion (mammal)
(astronomy, astrology) Leo

Declension

Declension of lav

	singular	plural
nominative	lȁv	lȁvovi
genitive	lȁva	lȁvōvā
dative	lȁvu	lȁvovima
accusative	lȁva	lȁvove
vocative	lȁve	lȁvovi
locative	lȁvu	lȁvovima
instrumental	lȁvom	lȁvovima

Derived terms

làvica
lȁvljī
làvovskī
mòrskī lȁv (“sea lion”)

Swedish

Noun

lav c

lichen
bench in sauna

Declension

Declension of lav
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	lav	laven	lavar	lavarna
Genitive	lavs	lavens	lavars	lavarnas

Synonyms

bastulav
lave

Derived terms

lavskrika

Anagrams

alv, val

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English love.

Noun

lav

love

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from French lave

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lʲav/, /ɫav/

Noun

lav (definite accusative lavı, plural lavlar)

lava

Volapük

Noun

lav (nominative plural lavs)

wash, washing (the action or activity)

Declension

declension of lav

	singular	plural
nominative	lav	lavs
genitive	lava	lavas
dative	lave	laves
accusative	lavi	lavis
vocative ¹	o lav!	o lavs!
predicative ²	lavu	lavus

¹ status as a case is disputed
² in later, non-classical Volapük only

Derived terms

lavön
lavöp