loyal

See also: Loyal

English

Alternative forms

• loyall (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French loyal, from Old French loial, leial, leal, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of legal and leal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɔɪəl/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪəl

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: loy‧al

Adjective

loyal (comparative more loyal, superlative most loyal)

1. Having or demonstrating undivided and constant support for someone or something.

   Dogs are very loyal animals, which is why they make wonderful pets.

   George is a loyal and loving husband.

2. Firm in allegiance to a person or institution.
3. Faithful to a person or cause.

   We must remain loyal to the mission.

Antonyms

• disloyal
• fickle
• treacherous

Derived terms

• loyal toast
• loyally
• loyalist

Related terms

• loyalty

Translations

firm in allegiance to a person or institution

• Albanian: besnik (sq)
• Arabic: وَفِيّ (wafiyy), مُخْلِص (muḵliṣ), مُوَالٍ (muwālin)

  Egyptian Arabic: موالى m (muwāli)

• Armenian: հավատարիմ (hy) (havatarim)
• Asturian: lleal
• Azerbaijani: vəfalı (az), sadiq (az), sədaqətli (az)
• Bashkir: тоғро (toğro)
• Belarusian: ве́рны (vjérny), адда́ны (be) (addány), лая́льны (lajálʹny)
• Bengali: বিশ্বস্ত (bn) (biśśosto), অনুগত (bn) (onugoto)
• Bulgarian: ве́рен (bg) (véren), пре́дан (bg) (prédan), лоя́лен (bg) (lojálen)
• Burmese: သစ္စာရှိ (my) (saccahri.)
• Catalan: lleial (ca)
• Chinese:

  Eastern Min: 忠 (düng)

  Mandarin: 忠誠／忠诚 (zh) (zhōngchéng), 忠貞／忠贞 (zh) (zhōngzhēn), 忠實／忠实 (zh) (zhōngshí)

• Czech: věrný (cs), loajální
• Danish: loyal (da), trofast
• Dutch: loyaal (nl), getrouw (nl)
• Esperanto: lojala
• Estonian: ustav, lojaalne, truu
• Finnish: lojaali (fi), uskollinen (fi)
• French: loyal (fr), fidèle (fr)
• Friulian: leâl
• Galician: leal (gl)
• Georgian: ლოიალური (loialuri), ერთგული (ertguli), თავდადებული (tavdadebuli)
• German: loyal (de), treu (de)
• Greek: πιστός (el) (pistós)
• Hebrew: נֶאֱמָן (he) (ne'emán)
• Hindi: निष्ठावान (niṣṭhāvān), वफादार (hi) (vaphādār), वफ़ादार (vafādār)
• Hungarian: hű (hu), hűséges (hu), lojális (hu)
• Icelandic: tryggur (is), trúr (is), dyggur (is), hollur
• Indonesian: setia (id), loyal (id)
• Italian: leale (it), ligio (it) m, fedele (it)
• Japanese: 忠実な (ja) (ちゅうじつな, chūjitsu na), 忠誠な (ja) (ちゅうせいな, chūsei na)
• Kazakh: адал (adal)
• Khmer: ចិត្តត្រង់ (cət trɑng), ចំពោះ (km) (cɑmpŭəh), ភក្តី (phĕəʼkdəy)
• Korean: 충실하다 (ko) (chungsilhada), 충성하다 (chungseonghada)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: wefadar (ku), dilsoz (ku)

• Ladin: fedel, leal
• Lao: ຊື່ (sư̄), ຊື່ຕົງ (sư̄ tong), ສັດຊື່ (sat sư̄)
• Latin: fīdus, fīdēlis
• Latvian: uzticīgs, lojāls
• Lithuanian: ištikimas, lojalus
• Macedonian: верен (veren)
• Malay: setia (ms), loyal
• Manchu: ᡨᠣᠨᡩᠣ (tondo)
• Maori: piripono, pirihonga
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: үнэнч (mn) (ünenč)

  Mongolian: ᠦᠨᠡᠨᠴᠢ (ünenči)

• Nepali: वफादार (vaphādār), निष्ठावान (niṣṭhāvān)
• Norman: louoya
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lojal (no), trofast (no)

  Nynorsk: lojal, trufast

• Occitan: leial (oc)
• Old English: ġetrīewe, trīewe
• Pashto: وفادار (wafādãr)
• Persian: وفادار (fa) (vafâdâr), باوفا (fa) (bâvafâ)
• Polish: lojalny (pl) m, oddany (pl)
• Portuguese: leal (pt) m or f, fiel (pt) m or f
• Romanian: fidel (ro), loial (ro)
• Russian: ве́рный (ru) (vérnyj), пре́данный (ru) (prédannyj), лоя́льный (ru) (lojálʹnyj)
• Sanskrit: निष्ठावान् (niṣṭhāvān), भक्त (sa) (bhakta)
• Scots: leal
• Scottish Gaelic: dìleas
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: веран, вјеран

  Roman: veran (sh), vjeran (sh)

• Sicilian: liali
• Slovak: verný (sk), lojálni
• Slovene: zvest (sl), lojalen
• Spanish: leal (es), fiel (es)
• Swedish: lojal (sv)
• Tajik: вафодор (vafodor)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: నమ్మకమైన (te) (nammakamaina)
• Thai: ซื่อสัตย์ (th) (sʉ̂ʉ-sàt), จงรัก (th) (jong-rák), ซื่อตรง (th) (sʉ̂ʉ-dtrong), ซื่อ (th) (sʉ̂ʉ)
• Tibetan: དམ་ཚིག་ཅན (dam tshig can), བརྩེ་གདུང་ཅན (brtse gdung can)
• Turkish: sadık (tr), vefalı (tr), sadakatli (tr), bağlılıklı
• Turkmen: wepaly
• Ukrainian: ві́рний (vírnyj), ві́дданий (víddanyj), лоя́льний (lojálʹnyj)
• Urdu: وفادار (vafādār)
• Uyghur: سادىق (sadiq), ۋاپادار (wapadar)
• Uzbek: sodiq (uz), vafodor (uz)
• Venetan: łeałe
• Vietnamese: trung thành (vi)
• Welsh: cywir (cy), ffyddlon (cy)
• Yiddish: געטרײַ (getray)

Anagrams

• Yolla, yallo, alloy, ollay

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French loyal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /løjaːl/, [lʌˈjæːˀl]

Adjective

loyal

1. loyal

Inflection

Inflection of loyal

	positive	comparative	superlative
indefinite common singular	loyal	—	—2
indefinite neuter singular	loyalt	—	—2
plural	loyale	—	—2
definite attributive1	loyale	—	—

¹ When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
² The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Derived terms

• illoyal
• loyalitet

Further reading

• “loyal” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French loial (with various alternative forms: leial, leal, loyel) from Latin lēgālis. Equivalent to loi +‎ -al. Doublet of légal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lwa.jal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: loyale, loyales

Adjective

loyal (feminine loyale, masculine plural loyaux, feminine plural loyales)

1. loyal

Related terms

• loi
• loyauté

Further reading

• “loyal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Etymology

18th century, from French loyal, from Latin legalis. Doublet of legal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lo̯aˈjaːl/, [lɔˈjaːl], [lo-], [lo.aˈjaːl]

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

loyal (strong nominative masculine singular loyaler, comparative loyaler, superlative am loyalsten)

1. loyal

   Antonym: illoyal

Usage notes

• Loyal usually means a formal, outward kind of loyalty, whereas treu tends to mean loyalty that is based on emotion or deep-rooted conviction. Therefore loyal is used especially with institutions, business partners, colleagues etc., while treu is used especially with lovers, friends, pets and suchlike. Ein loyaler Ehemann would be a husband who is reliable, supports his wife, does not speak ill of her, etc., whereas ein treuer Ehemann would put more emphasis on intimate affection and monogamy. Similarly, ein loyaler Anhänger is a follower who is reliable and performs their duty, while the expression ein treuer Anhänger may add an emotional level.

Declension

Positive forms of loyal

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist loyal	sie ist loyal	es ist loyal	sie sind loyal
strong declension (without article)	nominative	loyaler	loyale	loyales	loyale
	genitive	loyalen	loyaler	loyalen	loyaler
	dative	loyalem	loyaler	loyalem	loyalen
	accusative	loyalen	loyale	loyales	loyale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der loyale	die loyale	das loyale	die loyalen
	genitive	des loyalen	der loyalen	des loyalen	der loyalen
	dative	dem loyalen	der loyalen	dem loyalen	den loyalen
	accusative	den loyalen	die loyale	das loyale	die loyalen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein loyaler	eine loyale	ein loyales	(keine) loyalen
	genitive	eines loyalen	einer loyalen	eines loyalen	(keiner) loyalen
	dative	einem loyalen	einer loyalen	einem loyalen	(keinen) loyalen
	accusative	einen loyalen	eine loyale	ein loyales	(keine) loyalen

Comparative forms of loyal

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist loyaler	sie ist loyaler	es ist loyaler	sie sind loyaler
strong declension (without article)	nominative	loyalerer	loyalere	loyaleres	loyalere
	genitive	loyaleren	loyalerer	loyaleren	loyalerer
	dative	loyalerem	loyalerer	loyalerem	loyaleren
	accusative	loyaleren	loyalere	loyaleres	loyalere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der loyalere	die loyalere	das loyalere	die loyaleren
	genitive	des loyaleren	der loyaleren	des loyaleren	der loyaleren
	dative	dem loyaleren	der loyaleren	dem loyaleren	den loyaleren
	accusative	den loyaleren	die loyalere	das loyalere	die loyaleren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein loyalerer	eine loyalere	ein loyaleres	(keine) loyaleren
	genitive	eines loyaleren	einer loyaleren	eines loyaleren	(keiner) loyaleren
	dative	einem loyaleren	einer loyaleren	einem loyaleren	(keinen) loyaleren
	accusative	einen loyaleren	eine loyalere	ein loyaleres	(keine) loyaleren

Superlative forms of loyal

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist am loyalsten	sie ist am loyalsten	es ist am loyalsten	sie sind am loyalsten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	loyalster	loyalste	loyalstes	loyalste
	genitive	loyalsten	loyalster	loyalsten	loyalster
	dative	loyalstem	loyalster	loyalstem	loyalsten
	accusative	loyalsten	loyalste	loyalstes	loyalste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der loyalste	die loyalste	das loyalste	die loyalsten
	genitive	des loyalsten	der loyalsten	des loyalsten	der loyalsten
	dative	dem loyalsten	der loyalsten	dem loyalsten	den loyalsten
	accusative	den loyalsten	die loyalste	das loyalste	die loyalsten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein loyalster	eine loyalste	ein loyalstes	(keine) loyalsten
	genitive	eines loyalsten	einer loyalsten	eines loyalsten	(keiner) loyalsten
	dative	einem loyalsten	einer loyalsten	einem loyalsten	(keinen) loyalsten
	accusative	einen loyalsten	eine loyalste	ein loyalstes	(keine) loyalsten

Related terms

• Loyalist
• Loyalität

Further reading

• “loyal” in Duden online
• “loyal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch loyaal (“loyal”), from Middle Dutch loyael, from Old French loyal, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of legal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlo.jal/
• Rhymes: -jal
• Hyphenation: lo‧yal

Adjective

loyal

1. loyal

   Synonyms: patuh, setia

Related terms

• loyalis
• loyalitas

 

Further reading

• “loyal” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French loial.

Adjective

loyal m (feminine singular loyale, masculine plural loyaux, feminine plural loyales)

1. loyal

Descendants

• French: loyal

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (loial, supplement)