lieue

league (unit of distance)

noun LYUH Rare

Origin: From Latin 'leuca', a Gaulish unit of distance.

Usage Note

Lieue was a pre-metric French unit of distance, roughly 4 km, now encountered chiefly in literature and idioms. The hyperbolic phrase à cent lieues à la ronde means 'for miles around'. The idiom être à cent lieues de means 'to be very far from (suspecting or imagining something)', as in j'étais à cent lieues de m'en douter.

Examples

"Le château est à deux lieues du village."

Natural Translation

The castle is two leagues from the village.

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