let

Meaning

1. To allow to, not to prevent (+ infinitive, but usually without to).
2. To allow to be or do without interference; to not disturb or meddle with; to leave (someone or something) alone.
3. To allow the release of (a fluid).
4. To allow possession of (a property etc.) in exchange for rent.
5. To give, grant, or assign, as a work, privilege, or contract; often with out.
6. Used to introduce a first or third person imperative verb construction.
7. To cause (+ bare infinitive).
8. 1818, John Keats, To—
9. 1818, John Keats, To—: Time's sea hath been five years at its slow ebb, / Long hours have to and fro let creep the sand[…].

allow

permit

give permission

net ball

yield

consent to

endue

give credence to

let’s

trim down

accord with

bite out

make room for

well then

would that

allow to grant

put out to lease

ebb off

ebb out

approve of

be convinced

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/lɛt/

Derived from Middle English leten, læten, from Old English lǣtan (“to allow, let go, bequeath, leave, rent”), from Proto-West Germanic *lātan, from Proto-Germanic *lētaną (“to leave behind, allow”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d- (“to let, leave behind”). Cognates Cognate with Scots lat, lete (“to let, leave”), North Frisian lete (“to let”), West Frisian litte (“to let”), Dutch laten (“to let, leave”), German lassen (“to let, leave, allow”), Swedish låta (“to let, allow, leave”), Icelandic láta (“to let”), Albanian lë (“to allow, let, leave”) and partially related to French laisser (“to let”).