leech

leech · noun, verb¹

1. Old English · inherited fromlǣċe“blood-sucking worm”
2. Middle English · inherited fromleche“blood-sucking worm”
3. English todayleech

From Middle English leche (“blood-sucking worm”), from Old English lǣċe (“blood-sucking worm”), akin to Middle Dutch lāke ("blood-sucking worm"; > modern Dutch laak).

leech · noun²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*leǵ-“to collect, gather”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*lēkijaz“doctor”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*lākī
4. Old English · inherited fromlǣċe“doctor, physician”
5. Middle English · inherited fromleche“physician”
6. English todayleech

From Middle English leche (“physician”), from Old English lǣċe (“doctor, physician”), from Proto-West Germanic *lākī, from Proto-Germanic *lēkijaz (“doctor”), of disputed origin, but usually thought to be connected with Proto-Celtic (compare Old Irish líaig (“doctor, physician”)); perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect, gather”). Cognate with Old Frisian lētza (“physician”), Old Saxon lāki (“physician”), Old High German lāhhi (“doctor, healer”), Danish læge (“doctor, surgeon”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍃 (lēkeis, “physician”). Slavic words such as Serbo-Croatian ljèkār, Polish lekarz (“physician, doctor”) are usually considered to be borrowings from Germanic.

leech · verb³

1. Middle English · derived fromleche“doctor, physician”
2. Middle English · inherited fromlechen“to cure, heal, treat”
3. English todayleech

From Middle English lechen (“to cure, heal, treat”), from Middle English leche (“doctor, physician”). Compare Swedish läka (“to heal”) and Norwegian Nynorsk lækja (“to heal”).

leech · noun⁴

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*leyǵ-
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*līką
3. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*līk
4. Old Norse · derived fromlík“leechline”
5. Middle English · inherited fromlek
6. English todayleech

From Middle English lek, leche, lyche, from Old Norse lík (“leechline”), from Proto-West Germanic *līk, from Proto-Germanic *līką (compare West Frisian lyk (“band”), Dutch lijk (“boltrope”), Middle High German geleich (“joint, limb”)), from Proto-Indo-European *leyǵ- ‘to bind’ (compare Latin ligō (“tie, bind”), Ukrainian нали́гати (nalýhaty, “to bridle, fetter”), Albanian lidh (“to bind”), Hittite link- (caus. linganu-) ‘to swear’ (with -n- infix).

Leech · proper noun⁵

* As an English surname, variant of Leach. * As an Irish surname, from Liaigh (“physician”) (a calque of the English surname) or Ó Laoghóg (“descendant of Laoghóg”) and Ó Maolmhaodhóg (“descendant of Maolmhaodhóg”); see Logue.

Words from the same roots