Leans

How to spell leans

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce leans

What does leans mean?

1. verbInclines or rests the body at an angle, or tilts towards something.
2. verbTends to favour a particular view, choice, or direction.

Leans in a sentence

• He often leans against the door frame while talking.

• The committee leans towards approving the cheaper proposal.

• The old fence leans towards the road after the storm.

• My brother leans more conservative on money matters than I do.

Where does leans come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the third person singular form of the verb 'lean', which descends from the Old English hleonian and its variant hlinian, both meaning 'to recline, bend, or rest at a slope'. The root belongs to a wider Germanic family, with relatives such as the Dutch leunen and the German lehnen, and it ultimately traces to an Indo-European base meaning 'to bend or lean'. That same ancient root gave Latin its words for inclining and reclining, so the English 'lean' is a distant cousin of borrowed terms like 'incline' and 'recline'. The original sense of physically tipping the body to one side broadened over time to cover figurative leaning, such as favouring an opinion or relying on someone. The spelling has stayed simple and phonetic, with the only mild trap being its sound-alike legal term 'lien', a claim against property, which is written quite differently.

How the word is built

• lean (to incline or rest at an angle)
• -s (third person singular present)