Lief
[leef] /lif/
adverb
1.
gladly; willingly:
I would as lief go south as not.
adjective, Archaic.
2.
willing; desirous.
3.
dear; beloved; treasured.
/liːf/
adverb
1.
(rare) gladly; willingly: I’d as lief go today as tomorrow
adjective
2.
(archaic)
adj.
Old English leof “dear, valued, beloved, pleasant;” also as a noun, “a beloved person, friend,” from Proto-Germanic *leubo- (cf. Old Norse ljutr, Old Frisian liaf, Dutch lief, Old High German liob, German lieb, Gothic liufs “dear, beloved”), from PIE root *leubh- “love” (see love (n.)). As an adverb, “dearly, willingly” from c.1250. I want and I’d love to are overworked and misused to fill the hole left in the language when I would lief faded in 17c.
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