leek

See also: Leek

English

Three leeks

Etymology

From Middle English leke, leek, lek, from Old English lēac (“a garden herb, leek, onion, garlic”), from Proto-West Germanic *lauk, from Proto-Germanic *lauką *laukaz (“leek, onion”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewg- (“to bend”).

Cognate with Dutch look (“garlic, leek”), German Low German Look (“leek”), German Lauch (“leek, allium”), Danish løg (“onion”), Swedish lök (“onion”), Icelandic laukur (“onion, leek, garlic”). See garlic.

Pronunciation

• enPR: lēk, IPA^(key): /liːk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːk
• Homophone: leak

Noun

leek (plural leeks)

1. The vegetable Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum, having edible leaves and an onion-like bulb but with a milder flavour than the onion.
2. Any of several species of Allium, broadly resembling the domesticated plant in appearance in the wild.

Synonyms

• (Allium ampeloprasum): broadleaf wild leek, the Cambrian symbol (literary), garden leek, scallion (US, Scotland)

Derived terms

• Asian leek (Allium fistulosum)
• broadleaf wild leek (Allium ampeloprasum, Allium atroviolaceum)
• eat the leek
• garden leek (Allium ampeloprasum, syn. Allium porrum)
• green leek
• houseleek (Sempervivum)
• leek-green
• leek moth (Acrolepiopsis assectella)
• leek orchid (Prasophyllum spp.)
• leek rust (Puccinia allii)
• lily leek (Allium moly)
• meadow leek
• narrowleaf wild leek (Allium tricoccum var. burdickii)
• narrowleaf wild leek (Allium tricoccum var. burdickii)
• Persian leek (Allium ampeloprasum cultivar)
• rose leek
• sand leek (Allium scorodoprasum)
• swallow the leek
• threecorner leek (Allium triquetrum)
• wild leek

 

Descendants

• → Maori: riki

Translations

vegetable

• Abkhaz: апрасқьиа (apʼraskja)
• Afrikaans: prei
• Albanian: preshi, presh (sq)
• Arabic: كُرَّاث (kurrāṯ)

  Egyptian Arabic: كرات m pl (kurāt)

  Hijazi Arabic: كُرَّاث m pl (kurrāt)

  North Levantine Arabic: بَراصِيا

• Armenian: պրաս (hy) (pras)

  Middle Armenian: քուռաթ (kʻuṙatʻ)

  Old Armenian: պրաս (pras)

• Aromanian: prash n
• Asturian: puerru (ast) m
• Basque: porru (eu)
• Bats: პრას (ṗras)
• Bulgarian: праз m (praz)
• Catalan: porro (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 韭蔥／韭葱 (zh) (jiǔcōng)

• Classical Nahuatl: huēyi caxtīllān xonacatl
• Czech: pórek m, pór zahradní m
• Danish: porre c
• Daur: sors
• Dutch: prei (nl) m, porrei m
• Egyptian: (jꜣqt f)
• Esperanto: poreo
• Ewe: agumetaku n
• Faroese: purra f
• Finnish: purjo (fi), purjosipuli (fi)
• French: poireau (fr) m, porrée f, porreau (fr) m, poirée (fr) f, poirette (fr) f, asperge du pauvre (fr) f
• Galician: porro (gl) m, allo porro (gl) m
• Georgian: პრასი (ṗrasi), პრასა (ṗrasa)
• German: Porree (de) m, Lauch (de) m, Breitlauch m, Winterlauch m
• Greek: πράσο (el) n (práso)

  Ancient: πράσον n (práson)

• Haitian Creole: powo
• Hawaiian: leka
• Hebrew: כרישה (he)
• Hindi: गंदना (hi) (gandnā)
• Hungarian: póréhagyma (hu), póré (hu)
• Icelandic: blaðlaukur (is) m, púrra (is) f, púrrulaukur m
• Ido: porelo (io)
• Indonesian: prei (id)
• Irish: cainneann f

  Old Irish: cainnenn f

• Italian: porro (it) m
• Japanese: 葱 (ja) (ねぎ, negi)
• Khmer: ខ្ទឹមស្លឹក (km) (ktɨm slǝk), ស្លឹកខ្ទឹម (slǝk ktɨm)
• Korean: 파 (ko) (pa)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: کەوەری فەرەنگی (kewerî ferengî)

  Northern Kurdish: qurad (ku), kurat (ku)

• Ladino: prasa
• Latin: porrum n, ulpicum n
• Latvian: puravs
• Laz: პრასკჲა (p̌rasǩya)
• Low German: Porree m
• Luxembourgish: Porrett f
• Macedonian: праз m (praz)
• Maltese: kurrata f
• Maori: riki
• Middle English: lek
• Mongolian: жууцай (mn) (žuucaj)
• Norman: pouothé m
• Norwegian: purre, purreløk
• Occitan: pòrre (oc) m
• Ojibwe: zhigaagawanzh
• Old Church Slavonic: прасъ (prasŭ), празъ (prazŭ)
• Old English: lēac n
• Ottoman Turkish: پراصه (prasa)
• Papiamentu: siboyo largu
• Persian: تره‌فرنگی (tare-farangi)
• Plautdietsch: Luak f
• Polish: por (pl) m
• Portuguese: porro (pt) m, alho-porro (pt) m, alho-poró (pt) m (Brazil), alho-francês m
• Proto-Norse: ᛚᚨᚢᚲᚨᛉ m (laukaʀ)
• Romanian: praz (ro) m
• Russian: лук-поре́й (ru) m (luk-poréj), поре́й (ru) m (poréj)
• Scottish Gaelic: creamh-gàrraidh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пoрилук m, празилук m, праса f

  Roman: poriluk (sh) m, praziluk (sh) m, prasa (sh) f

• Slovak: pór m
• Slovene: por (sl) m, pôr (sl)
• Spanish: puerro m, porro (es) m, poro (es) m
• Swedish: purjolök (sv) c
• Tagalog: kutsay (Allium tuberosum)
• Thai: กระเทียมต้น (grà tiam dtôn)
• Tibetan: སྙུག་ཚོང (snyug tshong)
• Turkish: pırasa (tr)
• Ukrainian: цибуля-поре́й f (cybulja-poréj), поре́й m (poréj)
• Urdu: کراث (kurrās)
• Vietnamese: tỏi tây (vi)
• Walloon: porete (wa) f, porea (wa) m, poret m
• Welsh: cenhinen f
• Yiddish: פּאָרע־ציבעלע (pore-tsibele)

See also

• garlic
• leak
• Thrips tabaci

Further reading

• leek on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Allium ampeloprasum on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• leek at USDA Plants database

Anagrams

• Kele, elke, keel, lekë

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /leːk/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: leek
• Rhymes: -eːk
• Homophone: Leek

Etymology 1

From Latin lāicus (“layman, laic”), from Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós, “of the people”), from λαός (laós, “the people”).

Noun

leek m (plural leken, diminutive leekje n)

1. layman, non-clergyman

   In de middeleeuwen was er een duidelijk verschil tussen geestelijken en leken. ― In the Middle Ages, there was a clear distinction between clergy and laymen.

   Hij is een leek in kerkelijke zaken. ― He is a layman in ecclesiastical matters.

   Het kleine leekje in de kerk was erg nieuwsgierig. ― The young layman in the church was very curious.

2. layman, non-expert, amateur

   Als leek op dit gebied, kan ik je niet veel advies geven. ― As a layman in this field, I can't give you much advice.

   Veel leken vinden het moeilijk om dit te begrijpen. ― Many amateurs find it difficult to understand this.

   Het leekje probeerde zijn best te doen, ondanks zijn gebrek aan ervaring. ― The young amateur tried his best, despite his lack of experience.

Antonyms

• clericus, geestelijke
• deskundige, expert, professional

Derived terms

• lekenapostolaat
• lekenpersoneel
• lekenrechter
• lekenstand

Adjective

leek (comparative leker, superlative leekst)

1. (obsolete) lay, worldly, secular, profane

Inflection

Inflection of leek
uninflected	leek
inflected	leke
comparative	leker
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		leek	leker	het leekst het leekste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	leke	lekere	leekste
	n. sing.	leek	leker	leekste
	plural	leke	lekere	leekste
definite		leke	lekere	leekste
partitive		leeks	lekers	—

Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch leke, from Old Dutch *leke, from Old Norse lœkr, from Proto-Germanic *lōkiz. Cognate with Dutch laak, English lake.

Noun

leek ? (plural leken, diminutive leekje n)

1. small body of water, like a pool; gave rise to place names

Etymology 3

Local dialect in the Dutch region Betuwe, from Latin lapathum (“kind of sorrel”).

Noun

leek ? (plural leken, diminutive leekje n)

1. (botany) the plant Rumex crispus
2. (by extension) related plants of that genus: sorrel, dock

Derived terms

• koeleek

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

leek

1. singular past indicative of lijken

Verb

leek

1. inflection of leken:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

Anagrams

• keel, leke

Estonian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *leekki, cognate to Finnish liekki and Karelian liekki. Possibly the same root as in Votic lõõkkua (“to move, to sway”) and Finnish liekkua.

Noun

leek (genitive leegi, partitive leeki)

1. blaze, flame, fire

   Mu korter on leekides.

   My apartment is up in flames.

Declension

Declension of leek (ÕS type 22e/riik, k-g gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		leek	leegid
accusative	nom.
	gen.	leegi
genitive			leekide
partitive		leeki	leeke leekisid
illative		leeki leegisse	leekidesse leegesse
inessive		leegis	leekides leeges
elative		leegist	leekidest leegest
allative		leegile	leekidele leegele
adessive		leegil	leekidel leegel
ablative		leegilt	leekidelt leegelt
translative		leegiks	leekideks leegeks
terminative		leegini	leekideni
essive		leegina	leekidena
abessive		leegita	leekideta
comitative		leegiga	leekidega

Derived terms

• leegiheitja

Middle English

Noun

leek

1. Alternative form of lek