vetch

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun any of various climbing plants of the genus Vicia having pinnately compound leaves that terminate in tendrils and small variously colored flowers; includes valuable forage and soil-building plants

From Middle English vecche, fecche, ficche, from Old Northern French veche, variant of Old French vece, from Latin vicia. Doublet of fitch.

The servile tribe of Hagheri live in reed huts; we saw them threshing gilgil and vetch. — Southern Arabia, J. Theodore (James Theodore) Bent
Give me my hole, secure from all alarms; I'll prove that tares and vetches still have charms." — Children's Literature: A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes, Charles Madison Curry
Then a hedgerow with woody nightshade and long blue vetch; then the green night of a little wood. — Doctor Cupid: A Novel, Rhoda Broughton

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