Leon
noun
a historical area and former kingdom in northwestern Spain
a city in northwestern Spain at the foot of the Cantabrian Mountains
Origin
From Spanish León, from Latin legiō (“legion”), named for the Legio VII Gemina, which settled there. In reference to the New York town and Texan river, taken from the former Spanish kingdom. The Texan lake is named for the river. The Floridian county is named for the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. The Texan county is named for Martin de Leon, founder of Victoria, Texas. The town in Monroe Co., Wisconsin, was named for the Mexican city. The Iowan town was changed to honor the "Fighting Doctor" of the Mexican-American War David Camden de Leon after it was discovered that Iowa already had a city named Independence. The Kansan town was named for the one in Iowa. The California town was named for the nearby Leon Mine. Doublet of legion via Old French.
Phrases
- de Leon
- Leon County
- Leon Kilat
- New Leon
- Nuevo Leon
- San Leon
Related words
Word family
Broader terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.