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lex

Pronunciation: [ˈɫeːks]

“lex” is a Latin word. Its 13 meanings in English:

noun

  1. the legal machinery of a state, the law
  2. a law, statute, bill
  3. the laws regarded as a body, the constitution
  4. legal right or title
  5. a rule made by any authority, ordinance, regulation, precept
  6. a rule or principle of any art or craft, esp. the rules of scansion or versification
  7. a law or rule established by divine authority or universally accepted by mankind
  8. a principle inherent in the nature of a thing, a condition of existence
  9. what is allowable or right, the due measure, propriety
  10. rule, control, dominion
  11. a compact or agreement stipulating the terms for the performance of work, a contract
  12. a necessary condition for the fulfilment of a promise, contract, etc., a term, condition, stipulation
  13. terms of peace or friendship

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *lēks. The usual etymology derives the term from Proto-Indo-European *lēǵ-s, a root nomen actionis from *leǵ- (“to gather”), whence also legō. Palmer (1906) proposes an alternative origin in Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-s, root nomen actionis from *legʰ- (“to lie, to be in resting position”). Compare typologically English law, Russian уложе́ние (uložénije) from this PIE root. This…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.