The Leivu dialect is an extinct dialect of South Estonian that was spoken in North Latvia around the Gauja river by the Gauja Estonians.

The Leivu dialect most closely resembles the Hargla sub-dialect of Võro but was influenced by the Latvian language[2] and possibly even Livonian.

[5] Due to Latvian influence, the sounds s and z have changed into š and ž.

There has also been a loss of the consonant /h/ in many words and it is usually replaced by a stød such as in: ra’a ‘money’, vä’ämb ‘less’.

[2] The first syllable was pronounced longer than in other South-Estonian dialects, for example mùnà ‘egg’.