Meanings
plural latkes
- A pancake fried in oil, usually made from potatoes and sometimes also onions, traditionally served on Hanukkah.
Her favorite Chanukah memories were of eating latkes and sour cream while her mother gossiped with the aunts and cousins.
1 more example
We do not spend our days huddled in smoke-filled rooms plotting world domination while Jared Kushner plays dreidel in the back with Noam Chomsky and George Soros sneaks the last latke.
2022 January 19, Yair Rosenberg, “Why So Many People Still Don’t Understand Anti-Semitism”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 19 Jan 2022
Synonyms & antonyms
nounmade of grated potato and egg with a little flour
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Yiddishלאַטקע
- Englishlatke
Borrowed from Yiddish לאַטקע (latke), from either Russian ла́тка (látka, “pastry, patch”) or Ukrainian оладка (oladka, “pancake, fritter”). In Polish łatka (“patch”) or placek, placki (“fritter, fritters”).
More words from Yiddish
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Hebrew לביבה
- לביבה (levivah)pancake fried in oil
Swedish latke
- latkepancake fried in oil
Yiddish לאַטקע
- לאַטקע (latke)pancake fried in oil
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
latke. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/latke
“latke.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/latke. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “latke,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/latke.
Source: latke on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.