Link Centre Dictionary

leek

UK/liːk/ US/ˈlik/ uncommon

noun

1.

plant having a large slender white bulb and flat overlapping dark green leaves; used in cooking; believed derived from the wild Allium ampeloprasum

Synonyms
2.

related to onions; white cylindrical bulb and flat dark-green leaves

Origin

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”), Norwegian Bokmål løk (“onion”), Norwegian Nynorsk lauk (“onion”), Swedish lök (“onion”), Icelandic laukur (“onion, leek, garlic”). See garlic.

Phrases

  • Asian leek
  • broadleaf wild leek
  • eat the leek
  • garden leek
  • green leek
  • green leek parrot
  • leek moth
  • leek orchid

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.