lich

See also: Appendix:Variations of "lich"

English

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der.

Proto-Germanic *līką

Proto-West Germanic *līk

Old English līċ

Middle English lich

English lich

Inherited from Middle English lich, from Old English līċ, from Proto-West Germanic *līk, from Proto-Germanic *līką, from Proto-Indo-European *leyg-.

Alternative forms

• lych, lytch, litch, lyke

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lɪtʃ/
  • (West Country, possibly obsolete) IPA^(key): /litʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtʃ
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /laɪx/

Noun

lich (plural liches or (with Scots pronunciation) lichs)

1. (fantasy, roleplaying games) A reanimated corpse or undead being; particularly an intelligent, undead spellcaster.
   • 1974, Karl Edward Wagner, Sticks:

     It was a lich’s face – desiccated flesh tight over its skull.

2. (archaic, UK) A corpse or dead body. [from 9th c.]
   • 1845, Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, page 35:

     […] and that, as the chronicle states, a lich-way would be made through then, assembled his servants, and attempted to stop its progress as it was carried over a bridge. A scuffle ensued, and the body was thrown into the water. The lich-way as not made ; but the Bishop of Exeter amply revenged himself for the proceedings.

   • 1983, Poul Anderson, Time Patrolman (Sci-Fi), →ISBN:

     She saw him again that eventide, but then he was a reddened lich.

Translations

undead being

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 屍鬼 / 尸鬼 (si¹ gwai²)

  Mandarin: 巫妖 (wūyāo)

• Czech: lich (cs) m, kostěj m
• Danish: lig (da) n
• Dutch: zielenzuiger
• Esperanto: liĉo
• French: liche (fr) f
• German: Lich (de)
• Icelandic: lík (is) n
• Japanese: リッチ (ja) (ritchi)
• Lithuanian: ličas m
• Norwegian: lik (no) n
• Polish: lisz m, licz
• Russian: лич (ru) (lič)
• Spanish: liche (es)
• Ukrainian: ліч (lič)

Derived terms=

• demilich
• lichdom
• lich field
• lichfield
• lich-field
• lich gate
• lich-gate
• lichgate
• lichhood
• lich-house
• lich king
• lich-king
• lichlord
• lich lord
• lich-lord
• lich-wake
• lich way
• lichway
• lich-way
• lichwort
• lichyard
• lych-gate

Descendants

• → French: liche
• → Japanese: リッチ (ritchi)
• → Spanish: liche

Etymology 2

From Middle English līke, līch (“like”); see like and -like for more. Compare -ly and -lich.

Adjective

lich (comparative more lich, superlative most lich)

1. (obsolete) Like; resembling; equal.
   • 1386-90, John Gower, Confessio Amantis.

     Anon he let two cofres make / Of one semblance, and of one make, / So lich, that no lif thilke throwe, / That one may fro that other knowe.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 29:

     [He] rather joy'd to be than seemen sich, For both to be and seeme to him was labour lich.

Hupa

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *ɬəʒ̆ʷ. Cognate with Navajo łizh

Noun

lich

1. urine

References

• Golla, Victor et al. (1996), Hupa Language Dictionary Second Edition, Humboldt, California: Hoopa Valley Tribe

Middle English

Alternative forms

• lik

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der.

Proto-Germanic *līką

Proto-West Germanic *līk

Old English līċ

Middle English lich

Inherited from Old English līċ, from Proto-West Germanic *līk, from Proto-Germanic *līką, from Proto-Indo-European *leyg-.

Noun

lich (plural lichs)

1. A body.
   • 1362, William Langland, Piers Plowman, XI.2:

     A wyf […] Þat lene was of lich and of louh chere.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• English: lich, like
• Scots: lyke, lich

Middle High German

Alternative forms

• līche

Etymology

Inherited from Old High German līh, from Proto-West Germanic *līk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (before 13^th CE) /ˈliːx/

Noun

līch f

1. the body, the living body
   1. the bodily appearance
2. the corpse, the dead body

Declension

Declension of līch (strong feminine ending in a consonant)

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	diu	līch	die	līche
genitive	einer	dër	līche, līch	dër	līche
dative	einer	dër	līche, līch	dën	līchen
accusative	eine	die	līch	die	līche

Descendants

• Bavarian: Leich
• Central Franconian: Lich
• German: Leiche
• Luxembourgish: Läich

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlix/
• Rhymes: -ix
• Syllabification: lich

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

lich f

1. genitive plural of licha

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

lich n

1. genitive plural of licho

Further reading

• “lich”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[1] (in Polish)