leek

B2 Topic:Food & Drink

US /liːk/ See IPA manual

Homophones

leak /liːk/

Minimal pairs

Sounds like lick /ɪ/ vs /iː/ Sounds like wreak /l/ vs /r/

Freq #32206

Meanings

1

noun
A long vegetable related to the onion, with a white stem and green leaves and a mild flavour.

He chopped a leek for the soup.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms leeks

Derived forms houseleekleek-greenleekishleeklikeleeky

Related forms garlic leak

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.

leke Middle English lēac Old English *lauk Proto-West Germanic *lauką Proto-Germanic *lewg- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink

External links

# leek

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /liːk/
**Frequency rank:** 32206

## Meanings
1. A long vegetable related to the onion, with a white stem and green leaves and a mild flavour.

## Examples
- He chopped a leek for the soup.

## Derived Forms
- houseleek
- leek-green
- leekish
- leeklike
- leeky

## Related Forms
- garlic
- leak

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: leke
- Root: lēac
- Root: *lauk
- Root: *lauką
- Root: *lewg-

## 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.

## AI Etymology
Leek comes 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.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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