lettuce

B1 Topic:Plants & Agriculture

US /ˈlɛt.ɪs/ See IPA manual

Freq #10891

Meanings

1

noun
A plant with large green leaves that are eaten raw in salads.

I'll have a ham sandwich with lettuce and tomato.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms lettuces

Derived forms celtucelettuce-birdlettucelesslettucelikelettuceywater-lettuce

Related forms cabbage

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

iceberg lettuce
a lettuce with crisp pale leaves packed into a firm round head

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Lettuce entered Middle English through Old French letues or laitues, from Latin lactuca. The Latin word is based on lac, “milk,” referring to the milky juice produced by the plant.

Etymology

From Middle English letuse, of uncertain precise origin, probably from the plural form Old French laitues, derived from Latin lactūca (“lettuce”), from lac (“milk”), because of the milky fluid in its stalks. Replaced Old English lēahtric. (money): Likely from the green color of US banknotes.

letuse Middle English laitue Old French lactūca Latin lēactric Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Plants & Agriculture

External links

# lettuce

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈlɛt.ɪs/
**Frequency rank:** 10891

## Meanings
1. A plant with large green leaves that are eaten raw in salads.

## Examples
- I'll have a ham sandwich with lettuce and tomato.

## Derived Forms
- celtuce
- lettuce-bird
- lettuceless
- lettucelike
- lettucey
- water-lettuce

## Related Forms
- cabbage

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: letuse
- Root: laitue
- Root: lactūca
- Root: lēactric

## Etymology
From Middle English letuse, of uncertain precise origin, probably from the plural form Old French laitues, derived from Latin lactūca (“lettuce”), from lac (“milk”), because of the milky fluid in its stalks. Replaced Old English lēahtric. (money): Likely from the green color of US banknotes.

## AI Etymology
Lettuce comes from Middle English letuse, of uncertain precise origin, probably from the plural form Old French laitues, derived from Latin lactūca (“lettuce”), from lac (“milk”), because of the milky fluid in its stalks. Replaced Old English lēahtric. (money): Likely from the green color of US banknotes. The historical line also includes lēactric.

## Topics
- Plants & Agriculture

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