leek

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun plant having a large slender white bulb and flat overlapping dark green leaves; used in cooking; believed derived from the wild Allium ampeloprasum
  2. noun related to onions; white cylindrical bulb and flat dark-green leaves

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

scallion, Allium porrum

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