Lehed

Lehed is a word in the Estonian language that functions as the plural form of leht. The primary meanings are in botany and in written text. In botanical use, lehed refers to the leaves of plants and trees, an everyday term in descriptions of plant structure, physiology, and ecology. In literary and publishing contexts, leht denotes a page or a sheet within a book, magazine, or newspaper; the plural lehed can refer to multiple pages or to pages collectively.

Etymology and related terms: Leht is of Finnic origin and is cognate with the Finnish lehti. The senses of leaf and page reflect common semantic extensions found in Finnic languages, where a single word covers both the vegetative and the textual sense.

Usage notes: Lehed inflects according to Estonian noun declension patterns. While leht and lehed are widespread in everyday Estonian, there are no standard, widely recognized uses of Lehed as a proper noun in Estonian. Outside Estonian, the string Lehed may occasionally appear as a surname or as part of toponyms in other languages, but such uses are rare and not characteristic of standard Estonian.

See also: Leht (singular form), leaf, page.