Leks

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A communal display area for male animals during mating rituals, where they perform to attract females
2. A location in the natural world where various species gather for the purpose of reproduction through displays and competition
3. An environment that serves as a stage for animal courtship behavior, often leading to successful mating outcomes

Etymology: The "lek" in the sense of a gathering ground for display-and-compete breeding is a borrowing from Swedish "leka", meaning "to play", and the Swedish word itself traces back to older Germanic roots meaning the same thing. Ornithologists took the Swedish verb and applied it to birds that gather to show off in a communal arena, so the name for these sites is essentially "play place." English first recorded the verb in 1871, and the noun appears slightly earlier, in the 1860s. The same spelling also has an unrelated and far more surprising life. In Albanian, "Leka" is a familiar shortening of Alexander the Great's name, and the Albanian currency unit, the lek, is named after him. Two entirely different words, one meaning "play" and one named for a conqueror, share a spelling only by coincidence.

Synonyms: display grounds, courting areas