Leech

Wikipedia

English

File:Leech-china.JPG

a leech (animal)

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: lēch, IPA: /liːtʃ/, SAMPA: /li:tS/
• Rhymes: -iːtʃ
• Homophones: leach

Etymology 1

Middle English liche, Old English lȳce (cf. Middle Dutch [[lieke#Template:Dum|lieke]]), deverbative of lūcan ‘to pull out’, from Proto-Germanic *lūkanan, leukanan (cf. Middle High German [[liechen#Template:Gmh|liechen]] ‘to pull’), from Proto-Indo-European *leuk- (cf. Old Irish [[lucht#Template:Sga|lucht]] ‘load, cargo’, Latin lūgere ‘to mourn’, Tocharian B [[lakle#Template:Txb|lakle]] ‘pain, suffering’, Lithuanian láužti ‘to break’, Albanian lungë ‘knot’, Sanskrit rujáti ‘he breaks, shatters’)

Noun

Singular Leech

Plural es

Leech (es)

1. An aquatic blood-sucking annelid of class Hirudinea, especially Hirudo medicinalis.
2. A person who derives profit from others, in a parasitic fashion.

Translations

blood-sucking annelid

Afrikaans: Bloedsuier Albanian: rrodhe sq(sq) Armenian: տզրուկ hy(hy) (tzruk) Basque: izain Bulgarian: пиявица bg(bg) f. CJKV Characters: 蟥; 螞, 蚂 Chinese: 蚂蟥 (mǎhuáng) Croatian: pȉjavica hr(hr) f. Czech: pijavice f. Danish: blodigle c., igler pl. Dutch: bloedzuiger nl(nl) m. Esperanto: hirudo eo(eo) Estonian: kaan et(et) Finnish: juotikas fi(fi), iilimato fi(fi) French: sangsue fr(fr) f. Georgian: წურბელა (ts‘urbela) German: Blutegel de(de) m., Egel de(de) m. Greek: βδέλλα el(el) f. Gujarati: જળો (jalō) Hawaiian: mākoko, omo koko Hebrew: עלוקה he(he) f. Hindi: जोंक (jōṅk) Hungarian: pióca hu(hu) Icelandic: blóðsuga f., iglur pl. Ido: sanguisugo Indonesian: lintah

Italian: sanguisuga it(it) f. Japanese: ヒル ja(ja) (hiru) Korean: 거머리 (geomeori) Latin: hirudo la(la) f. Latvian: dēle f. Lithuanian: dėlė f. Malay: please add this translation if you can Malayalam: നീരട്ട (nīraṭṭa), കാര്യസാദ്ധ്യത്തിനായി മറ്റൊരാളുമായി അടുപ്പം സ്ഥാപിക്കുന്ന ആള്‍ Mongolian: хануур хорхой mn(mn) (hanuur horhoy) Navajo: akágí yitsʼǫǫsii Polish: pijawka pl(pl) f. Portuguese: sanguessuga pt(pt) f. Romanian: lipitoare ro(ro) f. Russian: пиявка ru(ru) (pijávka) f. Serbian: пијавица sr(sr) f. Slovak: pijavica sk(sk) f. Slovene: pijavka sl(sl) f. Spanish: sanguijuela f., hirudíneo m. Swedish: igel sv(sv) c. Tamil: அட்டை (aḍḍai) Thai: ทาก th(th) (thàak) Turkish: sülük tr(tr) Ukrainian: п'явка f. Vietnamese: đỉa vi(vi) Yiddish: please add this translation if you can

Derived terms

• leechcraft

Verb

Infinitive to Leech

Third person singular leech

Simple past -

Past participle -

Present participle es

to Leech (third-person singular simple present leech, present participle es, simple past and past participle -)

1. (transitive) To apply a leech medicinally.
2. (transitive) To drain (resources) without giving back.

   Bert leeched hundreds of files from the BBS, but never uploaded anything in return.

Derived terms

• leecher

Etymology 2

Middle English leche, from Old English lǣċe 'physician', from Proto-Germanic *lēkijaz 'healer' (cf. Danish/Swedish læge, Middle Dutch [[lake#Template:Dum|lake]], Old High German lāhhi), from Proto-Celtic *lēgios (cf. Template:Sga líaig), from Proto-Indo-European *leĝ- 'to gather' (cf. Latin legere 'to collect, gather; read', lēx 'law', Serbo-Croat lijek 'medicine, cure', Albanian mbledh 'I collect', Ancient Greek légein 'to collect, gather, choose', logos 'word, speech').

Noun

Singular Leech

Plural es

Leech (es)

1. (archaic) A physician.
   • 1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial 2007, p. 11:

     He coughed sputum stained with blood, and a scraping, crackling noise came from his chest, quite audible to anyone in the room. ‘Lungs possibly not too good,’ the leech said.

2. Template:Paganism A healer in Heathenry.
   • (A date for this quote is being sought): Swain Wodening, “Scandinavian Craft Lesson 6: Runic Divination”, Theod Magazine, volume 3, number 4

     In ancient times runesters were a specialized class separate from that of the witch or ordinary spell caster (much as the other specialists such as the leech or healer and the seithkona were different from a witch), and even today many believe it takes years of training to become adept at using the runes in spell work.

   • 1900, Augustus Henry Keane, Man, Past and Present, The University Press (Cambridge)

     Their functions are threefold, those of the medicine-man (the leech, or healer by supernatural means); of the soothsayer (the prophet through communion with the invisible world); and of the priest, especially in his capacity as exorcist

   • 2003, Brian Froud and Ari Berk, The Runes of Elfland, Pavillion Books, ISBN 1 86205 647 1, page 22

     "Leech?" "Not another doctor".

   • 2004, Runic John, The Book of Seithr, Capall Bann Publishing, ISBN 186163 299 0, page 282

     There are many kinds of "Leech" or "healer" as there are healing techniques, some are more powerful than others and some are very specific to certain illnesses and complaints; some use potions and unguents, others crystals and stones, others galdr and some work their healing from within the hidden realms themselves.

Etymology 3

Middle English lek, leche, lyche, probably from Old Norse lík ‘leech-line’, from Proto-Germanic *līkan (cf. East Frisian [[līk#Template:Frs|līk]] ‘band’, Dutch lijk ‘boltrope’, Middle High German [[geleich#Template:Gmh|geleich]] ‘joint, limb’), from Proto-Indo-European *leiĝ- ‘to bind’ (cf. Latin ligare ‘to tie’, Ukrainian nalýhaty ‘to bridle, fetter’, Albanian lidh ‘to bind’).

Noun

Leech

1. (Nautical) The vertical edge of a square sail
2. Template:Nautical The aft edge of a triangular sail

Translations

aft edge of a triangular sail

Finnish: takaliikki

Italian: balumina

Derived terms

• leech line

Related terms

• luff
• foot

See also

• Wikipedia article on parts of a sail

---

West Frisian

Adjective

leech

1. low
2. empty

1. "De opfreeche side titel wie ûnjildich, leech, of in miskeppele." (The requested page title was invalid, empty or improperly linked.)

ar:leech et:leech el:leech fa:leech fr:leech ko:leech io:leech it:leech ku:leech lt:leech li:leech hu:leech ml:leech nl:leech pl:leech pt:leech ru:leech ta:leech te:leech tr:leech uk:leech vi:leech zh:leech