loyal

See also: Loyal

English

Alternative forms

loyall (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French loyal, from Old French loial, leial, leal, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of legal and leal.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈlɔɪəl/
Rhymes: -ɔɪəl
Audio (UK) (file)

Adjective

loyal (comparative loyaler or loyaller, superlative loyalest or loyallest)

Having or demonstrating undivided and constant support for someone or something.
Dogs are very loyal animals, which is why they make wonderful pets.
George is a loyal and loving husband.
Firm in allegiance to a person or institution.
Faithful to a person or cause.
We must remain loyal to the mission.

Antonyms

disloyal
fickle
treacherous

Derived terms

loyal toast
loyally
loyalist

Related terms

loyalty

Translations

firm in allegiance to a person or institution

Albanian: besnik (sq)
Arabic: وَفِيّ‎ (wafiyy), مُخْلِص‎ (muḵliṣ), مُوَالٍ‎ (muwālin)
Egyptian Arabic: موالى‎ m (muwāli)
Armenian: հավատարիմ (hy) (havatarim)
Asturian: lleal
Azerbaijani: vəfalı (az), sadiq (az), sədaqətli (az)
Bashkir: тоғро (toğro)
Belarusian: ве́рны (vjérny), адда́ны (be) (addány), лая́льны (lajálʹny)
Bengali: বিশ্বস্ত (biśẇstô), অনুগত (bn) (ônugôtô)
Bulgarian: ве́рен (bg) (véren), пре́дан (bg) (prédan), лоя́лен (bg) (lojálen)
Burmese: သစ္စာရှိ (my) (saccahri.)
Catalan: lleial (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 忠誠／忠诚 (zh) (zhōngchéng), 忠貞／忠贞 (zh) (zhōngzhēn), 忠實／忠实 (zh) (zhōngshí)
Min Dong: 忠 (düng)
Czech: věrný (cs), loajální
Danish: loyal (da), trofast
Dutch: loyaal (nl), getrouw (nl)
Esperanto: lojala
Estonian: ustav, lojaalne, truu
Finnish: lojaali (fi), uskollinen (fi)
French: loyal (fr), fidèle (fr)
Friulian: leâl
Galician: leal
Georgian: ლოიალური (loialuri), ერთგული (ertguli), თავდადებული (tavdadebuli)
German: loyal (de), treu (de)
Greek: πιστός (el) (pistós)
Hebrew: נֶאֱמָן‎ (he) (ne'emán)
Hindi: निष्ठावान (niṣṭhāvān), वफादार (hi) (vaphādār), वफ़ादार (vafādār)
Hungarian: hű (hu), hűséges (hu), lojális (hu)
Icelandic: tryggur (is), trúr (is), dyggur (is), hollur
Indonesian: setia (id)
Italian: leale (it), ligio (it) m, fedele (it)
Japanese: 忠実な (ja) (ちゅうじつな, chūjitsu na), 忠誠な (ja) (ちゅうせいな, chūsei na)
Kazakh: адал (kk) (adal)
Khmer: ចិត្តត្រង់ (cət trɑng), ចំពោះ (km) (cɑmpŭəh), ភក្តី (phĕəʼkdəy)
Korean: 충실하다 (ko) (chungsilhada), 충성하다 (chungseonghada)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: wefadar (ku), dilsoz (ku)
Ladin: fedel, leal
Lao: ຊື່ (sư̄), ຊື່ຕົງ (sư̄ tong), ສັດຊື່ (sat sư̄)
Latin: fīdus, fīdēlis
Latvian: uzticīgs, lojāls
Lithuanian: ištikimas, lojalus
Macedonian: верен (veren)
Malay: setia (ms), loyal
Maori: piripono
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: үнэнч (mn) (ünenč)
Mongolian: ᠦᠨᠡᠨᠴᠢ (ünenči)
Manchu: ᡨᠣᠨᡩᠣ (tondo)
Nepali: वफादार (vaphādār), निष्ठावान (niṣṭhāvān)
Norman: louoya
Norwegian:
Bokmål: lojal (no), trofast (no)
Nynorsk: lojal, trufast
Occitan: leial (oc)
Old English: ġetrīewe, trīewe
Pashto: وفادار‎ (wafādãr)
Persian: وفادار‎ (fa) (vafâdâr), باوفا‎ (fa) (bâvafâ)
Polish: lojalny (pl) m, oddany (pl)
Portuguese: leal (pt) m or f, fiel (pt) m or f
Romanian: fidel (ro), loial (ro)
Russian: ве́рный (ru) (vérnyj), пре́данный (ru) (prédannyj), лоя́льный (ru) (lojálʹnyj)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: веран, вјеран
Roman: veran (sh), vjeran (sh)
Sanskrit: निष्ठावान् (niṣṭhāvān), भक्त (sa) (bhakta)
Scots: leal
Scottish Gaelic: dìleas
Sicilian: liali
Slovak: verný (sk), lojálni
Slovene: zvest (sl), lojalen
Spanish: leal (es), fiel (es)
Swedish: lojal (sv)
Tajik: вафодор (vafodor)
Tamil: please add this translation if you can
Telugu: నమ్మకమైన (te) (nammakamaina)
Thai: ซื่อสัตย์ (th) (sʉ̂ʉ-sàt), จงรัก (th) (jong-rák), ซื่อตรง (th) (sʉ̂ʉ-dtrong), ซื่อ (th) (sʉ̂ʉ)
Tibetan: དམ་ཚིག་ཅན (dam tshig can), བརྩེ་གདུང་ཅན (brtse gdung can)
Turkish: sadık (tr), vefalı (tr), sadakatli (tr)
Turkmen: wepaly
Ukrainian: ві́рний (vírnyj), ві́дданий (víddanyj), лоя́льний (lojálʹnyj)
Urdu: وفادار‎ (vafādār)
Uyghur: سادىق‎ (sadiq), ۋاپادار‎ (wapadar)
Uzbek: sodiq (uz), vafodor (uz)
Venetian: łeałe
Vietnamese: trung thành (vi)
Welsh: cywir (cy), ffyddlon (cy)
Yiddish: געטרײַ‎ (getray)

Anagrams

Yolla, alloy, yallo

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French loyal.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /løjaːl/, [lʌˈjæːˀl]

Adjective

loyal

loyal

Inflection

Inflection of loyal
	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Common singular	loyal	—	—²
Neuter singular	loyalt	—	—²
Plural	loyale	—	—²
Definite attributive¹	loyale	—	—
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.

Derived terms

illoyal
loyalitet

French

Etymology

From Old French loial (with various alternative forms: leial, leal, loyel) from Latin lēgālis.[1] Equivalent to loi +‎ -al. Doublet of légal.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lwa.jal/
Audio (file)
Homophones: loyale, loyales

Adjective

loyal (feminine loyale, masculine plural loyaux, feminine plural loyales)

loyal

Related terms

loi
loyauté

References

Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “loyal”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 5: J L, page 239

German

Etymology

18th century, from French loyal, from Latin legalis. Doublet of legal.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /lo̯aˈjaːl/, [lɔˈjaːl], [lo-], [lo.aˈjaːl]
Audio (file)

Adjective

loyal (strong nominative masculine singular loyaler, comparative loyaler, superlative am loyalsten)

loyal
Antonym: illoyal

Usage notes

Loyal usually means a formal, outward kind of loyalty, whereas treu tends to mean loyalty that is based on emotion or deep-rooted conviction. Therefore loyal is used especially with institutions, business partners, colleagues etc., while treu is used especially with lovers, friends, pets and suchlike. Ein loyaler Ehemann would be a husband who is reliable, supports his wife, does not speak ill of her, etc., whereas ein treuer Ehemann would put more emphasis on intimate affection and monogamy. Similarly, ein loyaler Anhänger is a follower who is reliable and performs their duty, while the expression ein treuer Anhänger may add an emotional level.

Declension

Positive forms of loyal

number & gender		singular			plural
number & gender		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist loyal	sie ist loyal	es ist loyal	sie sind loyal
strong declension (without article)	nominative	loyaler	loyale	loyales	loyale
	genitive	loyalen	loyaler	loyalen	loyaler
	dative	loyalem	loyaler	loyalem	loyalen
	accusative	loyalen	loyale	loyales	loyale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der loyale	die loyale	das loyale	die loyalen
	genitive	des loyalen	der loyalen	des loyalen	der loyalen
	dative	dem loyalen	der loyalen	dem loyalen	den loyalen
	accusative	den loyalen	die loyale	das loyale	die loyalen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein loyaler	eine loyale	ein loyales	(keine) loyalen
	genitive	eines loyalen	einer loyalen	eines loyalen	(keiner) loyalen
	dative	einem loyalen	einer loyalen	einem loyalen	(keinen) loyalen
	accusative	einen loyalen	eine loyale	ein loyales	(keine) loyalen

Comparative forms of loyal

number & gender		singular			plural
number & gender		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist loyaler	sie ist loyaler	es ist loyaler	sie sind loyaler
strong declension (without article)	nominative	loyalerer	loyalere	loyaleres	loyalere
	genitive	loyaleren	loyalerer	loyaleren	loyalerer
	dative	loyalerem	loyalerer	loyalerem	loyaleren
	accusative	loyaleren	loyalere	loyaleres	loyalere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der loyalere	die loyalere	das loyalere	die loyaleren
	genitive	des loyaleren	der loyaleren	des loyaleren	der loyaleren
	dative	dem loyaleren	der loyaleren	dem loyaleren	den loyaleren
	accusative	den loyaleren	die loyalere	das loyalere	die loyaleren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein loyalerer	eine loyalere	ein loyaleres	(keine) loyaleren
	genitive	eines loyaleren	einer loyaleren	eines loyaleren	(keiner) loyaleren
	dative	einem loyaleren	einer loyaleren	einem loyaleren	(keinen) loyaleren
	accusative	einen loyaleren	eine loyalere	ein loyaleres	(keine) loyaleren

Superlative forms of loyal

number & gender		singular			plural
number & gender		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		er ist am loyalsten	sie ist am loyalsten	es ist am loyalsten	sie sind am loyalsten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	loyalster	loyalste	loyalstes	loyalste
	genitive	loyalsten	loyalster	loyalsten	loyalster
	dative	loyalstem	loyalster	loyalstem	loyalsten
	accusative	loyalsten	loyalste	loyalstes	loyalste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der loyalste	die loyalste	das loyalste	die loyalsten
	genitive	des loyalsten	der loyalsten	des loyalsten	der loyalsten
	dative	dem loyalsten	der loyalsten	dem loyalsten	den loyalsten
	accusative	den loyalsten	die loyalste	das loyalste	die loyalsten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein loyalster	eine loyalste	ein loyalstes	(keine) loyalsten
	genitive	eines loyalsten	einer loyalsten	eines loyalsten	(keiner) loyalsten
	dative	einem loyalsten	einer loyalsten	einem loyalsten	(keinen) loyalsten
	accusative	einen loyalsten	eine loyalste	ein loyalstes	(keine) loyalsten

Related terms

Loyalist
Loyalität

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French loial.

Adjective

loyal m (feminine singular loyale, masculine plural loyaux, feminine plural loyales)

loyal

Descendants

French: loyal

References

Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (loial, supplement)

[1] Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “loyal”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 5: J L, page 239

loyal

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Antonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

Danish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Inflection

Derived terms

French

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Related terms

References

Further reading

German

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Usage notes

Declension

Related terms

Further reading

Middle French

Etymology

Adjective

Descendants

References