lentil

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small, flat, lens-shaped seed cooked and eaten as a pulse

   A pot of red lentils simmered with tomatoes and cumin.

2. 2
   noun

   the annual leguminous plant, Lens culinaris, that produces these edible seeds

   The farmer planted lentil in a dry field where few other crops thrived.

From Middle English lentile through Old French lentille from Latin lenticula, a diminutive of lens, 'lentil.' The seed's characteristic double-convex shape later gave the optical lens its name, which explains the relation to lens and lenticular.

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