Lieu

How to spell lieu

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce lieu

What does lieu mean?

1. nounPlace or stead, used almost exclusively in the phrase 'in lieu of' to mean instead of or in place of.

Lieu in a sentence

• The company offered extra holiday in lieu of a pay rise.

• Staff who work the bank holiday can take a day off in lieu later.

Where does lieu come from?

Language of origin: French

This word comes straight from Old French lieu, meaning 'place' or 'position', which descended from the Latin locus, literally 'a place' or 'spot'. English adopted it in the late 1200s, almost always inside the fixed phrase 'in lieu of', meaning 'in place of' or 'instead of'. The same Latin locus root sits behind a whole family of familiar English words, including 'local', 'location', 'locate' and 'locus' itself. The spelling trap is the French vowel cluster 'ieu', which looks nothing like the way the word sounds (roughly 'loo' or 'lyoo'); because English never naturalised the spelling, it kept the unhelpful French look. Remembering that it is a close cousin of 'lieutenant', literally the person holding a post 'in place of' a superior, can anchor the unusual 'ieu' in memory.

How the word is built

• lieu (from Latin locus: place, position)

Words that sound like lieu

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• loo: An informal British term for a toilet or the room containing one.