Etymology

houseleek

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Today it means: Any of several succulent plants, of the genus Sempervivum, having a rosette of fleshy leaves. Full definition →

Middle English houslek ← Old English *hūslēac ← Proto-West Germanic *hūsalauk
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hūsalauk
  2. Old English · inherited from*hūslēac
  3. Middle English · inherited fromhouslek
  4. English todayhouseleek

From Middle English houslek, probably from Old English *hūslēac, from Proto-West Germanic *hūsalauk. Cognate with Dutch huislook, German Hauslauch, Danish husløg, Swedish huslök. By surface analysis, house + leek.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.