Etymology

loess

L1O1E1S1S1

Today it means: Any sediment, dominated by silt, of eolian (wind-blown) origin. Full definition →

German Löss ← Alemannic German lösch
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The story

  1. Alemannic German · derived fromlösch“loose”
  2. German · borrowed fromLöss“yellowish-gray soil”
  3. English todayloess

Borrowed from German Löss (“yellowish-gray soil”), from Alemannic German lösch (“loose”). Cognate with German los and English lease.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.