lionel
n. countablen. a young lion. This is an old-fashioned word that you might see in very old stories or poems.
n. a young or small lion. Archaic in register; primarily encountered in heraldry or medieval literature.
The lionel followed its mother through the tall grass.
The knight's shield was decorated with a golden lionel to represent his family's strength and youth.
In the dusty pages of the medieval bestiary, the artist had carefully sketched a lionel, though the proportions suggested he had never seen a real cub in the wild.
A Middle English diminutive of French Léon, Latin Leo (“lion”), or of the Middle English nickname Lion + -el (diminutive suffix).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Archaic; almost entirely replaced by 'cub' in modern English.
Last updated May 2, 2026