leather
pronunciation
How to pronounce leather in British English:
UK [ˈleðə(r)]
How to pronounce leather in American English:
US [ˈleðər]
-
- Noun:
- an animal skin made smooth and flexible by removing the hair and then tanning
Word Origin
- leather
- leather: [OE] The Indo-European ancestor of leather was *letrom. It has descendants in two branches of the Indo-European language family: in Celtic, Welsh lledr, Irish leathar, and Breton ler; and in Germanic, German leder, Dutch leer, Swedish läder, Danish læder, and English leather.
- leather (n.)
- Old English leðer (in compounds only) "hide, skin, leather," from Proto-Germanic *lethran (cognates: Old Norse leðr, Old Frisian lether, Old Saxon lethar, Middle Dutch, Dutch leder, Old High German ledar, German leder), from PIE *letro- "leather" (cognates: Old Irish lethar, Welsh lledr, Breton lezr). As an adjective from early 14c.; it acquired a secondary sense of "sado-masochistic" 1980s, having achieved that status in homosexual jargon in the 1970s.
Example
- 1. He keeps in his pocket a two-sided leather pouch .
- 2. This leather coat alone is worth 5000 quid .
- 3. And you can always upgrade to leather upholstery .
- 4. Later they boiled and ate leather .
- 5. Art of leather dressing is thousands years old .