Dictionary

lich en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /lɪtʃ/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /laɪx/ (Scotland)
• /litʃ/ (West-Country, obsolete, possibly)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līką Proto-West Germanic *līk Old English līċ Middle English lich English lich Inherited from Middle English lich, from Old English līċ, from Proto-West Germanic *līk, from Proto-Germanic *līką, from Proto-Indo-European *leyg-.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:roleplaying games) A reanimated corpse or undead being; particularly an intelligent, undead spellcaster.
   • It was a lich’s face – desiccated flesh tight over its skull. 1974, Karl Edward Wagner, Sticks:
2. (UK, archaic) A corpse or dead body.
   • […] and that, as the chronicle states, a lich-way would be made through then, assembled his servants, and attempted to stop its progress as it was carried over a bridge. A scuffle ensued, and the body was thrown into the water. The lich-way as not made ; but the Bishop of Exeter amply revenged himself for the proceedings. 1845, Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, page 35:
   • She saw him again that eventide, but then he was a reddened lich. 1983, Poul Anderson, Time Patrolman (Sci-Fi), →ISBN:

Forms

Deriveds

lichyard · lich-wake · lich-way · lich-king · lichwort · lich-house · lich lord · lich gate · lich-field · lichgate · lichway · lich way · lichfield · lich field · lich king · lych-gate · lich-lord · lich-gate · lichlord · demilich

Descendants

liche · liche · リッチ

Translations (18)

cs lich (undead being) · uk ліч (undead being) · no lik (undead being) · fr liche (undead being) · lt ličas (undead being) · ru лич (undead being) · es liche (undead being) · is lík (undead being) · eo liĉo (undead being) · pl licz (undead being) · cs kostěj (undead being) · yue 屍鬼 /尸鬼 (undead being) · cmn 巫妖 (undead being) · da lig (undead being) · pl lisz (undead being) · de Lich (undead being) · nl zielenzuiger (undead being) · ja リッチ (undead being)

lich en · ADJ · etymology 2

Etymology

From Middle English līke, līch (“like”); see like and -like for more. Compare -ly and -lich.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) Like; resembling; equal.
   • 1386-90, John Gower, Confessio Amantis. Anon he let two cofres make / Of one semblance, and of one make, / So lich, that no lif thilke throwe, / That one may fro that other knowe.
   • [He] rather joy'd to be than seemen sich, For both to be and seeme to him was labour lich. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 29:

Forms