# lioness
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English leonesse, lyonesse, from Old French leonesse, lionesse; equivalent to lion +‎ -ess.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈlaɪ.ə.nɪs/, /ˈlaɪ.ə.nɛs/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

### Noun

lioness (plural lionesses)
* A female lion (animal).
    Synonym: (idiomatic) queen of beasts
** 2023 July 20, Philip Oltermann, “Lioness believed to be on loose in Berlin”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:Residents on the south-western outskirts of Berlin are being urged to stay indoors after overnight sightings of a “loose, dangerous animal”, suspected to be an escaped lioness.
* (figurative) A female lion (famous person regarded with interest and curiosity).
** 1877, The Contemporary Review, volume 29, page 1123:The stories were a tremendous success; she was one of the leading lionesses of London literary society.
** 2005 August 19, James Sturcke, quoting Stuart Bell, “Mowlam a political ‘lioness’”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:The Middlesbrough Labour MP, Stuart Bell, a political and personal friend, said: "Mo was a lioness both in terms of the Labour party and politics nationally. She cut to the quick with any issue and proved herself a stateswoman of the highest order when seeking to negotiate the Northern Ireland Good Friday agreement.
** 2023 October 6, “Memorial honors trailblazing senator Dianne Feinstein: ‘She was a lioness’”, in The Guardian‎, sourced from Associated Press, →ISSN:The social worker said she talked to her 28-year-old daughter about the battles Feinstein fought so that younger generations of women could dream bigger. “She was a lioness.”
* (Oxford University slang, obsolete) A female visitor to a student at Oxford, especially during commemoration week.
** 1871, John Cordy Jeaffreson, Annals of Oxford, page 305:When "lionesses" visiting Oxford for the gay doings of commemoration week spend a morning at Merton, they should look out for Antony Wood's mural tablet in the chapel, […]
** 1888, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, page 271:"Now, boys, keep your eyes open, there must be plenty of lionesses about;" and thus warned, the whole load, including the cornopean player, were on the look-out for lady visitors, profanely called lionesses, all the way up the street.

#### Derived terms

* mountain lioness

#### Translations

Afrikaans: leeuin (af)
Albanian: luaneshë (sq)
Arbëresh: lefe
Arabic: لَبُؤَة f (labuʔa), لَبْوَة f (labwa)
Egyptian Arabic: اسدة f (asada)
Aramaic:
Classical Syriac: ܐܪܝܘܬܐ f (ʾaryōṯā)
Jewish Aramaic: אריותא f (ʾaryōṯā)
Armenian: էգ առյուծ (ēg aṙyuc)
Asturian: lleona (ast) f
Belarusian: ільві́ца f (ilʹvíca), льві́ца f (lʹvíca)
Bengali: সিংহী (śiṅhi)
Bulgarian: лъви́ца f (lǎvíca)
Burmese: ခြင်္သေ့မ (my) (hkrangse.ma.)
Catalan: lleona (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 母狮 (mǔshī), 母狮子 (mǔshīzi)
Coptic: ⲗⲁⲃⲟⲓ f (laboi)
Corsican: lionessa
Czech: lvice (cs) f
Danish: hunløve c, løvinde (da) c
Dutch: leeuwin (nl) f
Egyptian: (mꜣt f)
Esperanto: leonino (eo)
Finnish: naarasleijona
French: lionne (fr) f
Galician: leoa f
German: Löwin (de) f
Greek: λιονταρίνα (el) f (liontarína), λέαινα (el) f (léaina)
Ancient Greek: λέαινᾰ f (léaina)
Gujarati: સિંહિયો (sĩhiyo)
Hebrew: לביאה f (l'vi'á)
Hindi: शेरनी (śernī)
Hungarian: oroszlánhölgy, nőstény oroszlán, nőstényoroszlán (hu) f
Hunsrik: Leevin f
Icelandic: ljónynja
Ido: leonino (io)
Indonesian: singa betina
Interlingua: leonessa
Italian: leonessa (it) f
Japanese: 雌ライオン (めすらいおん, mesu-raion), 母獅 (むし, mushi)
Kannada: ಸಿಂಹಿಣಿ (kn) (siṃhiṇi)
Kazakh: қаншыр (qanşyr)
Korean: 암사자 (ko) (amsaja)
Kyrgyz: ургаачы арстан (urgaacı arstan)
Latin: lea (la) f, leaena (la) f
Latvian: lauvene f
Lithuanian: liūtė f
Luxembourgish: Léiwin f
Macedonian: лавица f (lavica)
Malay: singa betina
Maltese: leoness f
Marathi: सिंहीण (siuhīṇ)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: эрслэн (mn) (erslen)
Mongolian: ᠡᠷᠰᠯᠡᠨ (erslen)
Neapolitan: lionessa f
Nepali: सिंहनी (siṅhanī)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: løvinne (no) m or f
Nynorsk: løvinne f
Pashto: زمرۍ f (zmarëi)
Polish: lwica (pl) f
Portuguese: leoa (pt) f
Punjabi:
Gurmukhi: ਸ਼ੇਰਨੀ (śernī)
Shahmukhi: شیرنِی (śernī)
Romanian: leoaică (ro) f
Russian: льви́ца (ru) f (lʹvíca)
Sanskrit: सिंहा (sa) f (siṃhā)
Saraiki: شِینہݨِی (śīnhṇī)
Scottish Gaelic: ban-leòmhann f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: лавица f
Roman: lavica (sh) f
Shona: shumba hadzi
Sicilian: liuna f
Slovak: levica f
Slovene: levinja (sl) f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: lawica f, lawowka f
Upper Sorbian: lawica f
Spanish: leona (es) f
Sundanese: singa bikang
Swahili: simba jike
Swedish: lejoninna (sv), lejonhona (sv) c
Tamil: பெண்சிங்கம் (peṇciṅkam)
Telugu: సివంగి (te) (sivaṅgi)
Turkish: dişi aslan
Ugaritic: 𐎍𐎁𐎛𐎚 (lbỉt)
Ukrainian: леви́ця (uk) f (levýcja)
Urdu: شیرنی (śernī)
Vietnamese: sư tử cái
Volapük: (obsolete) jilein
West Frisian: liuwinne
Yiddish: לייביכע f (leybikhe) :

### References

* John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
* “lioness”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
* “lioness”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* Elisons, esloins, insoles, lesions, selions