• (British, America) enPR: lēch, IPA: /liːt͡ʃ/

From Middle English leche, from Old English *lǣċ, *lǣċe, from Proto-Germanic *lēkijō

(compare Proto-Germanic *lekaną), from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-.

Cognate with Old English leċċan, Old English lacu. More at leak, lake.

leach (plural leaches)

1. A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes the alkali.
2. A tub or vat for leaching ashes, bark, etc.
   • 1894, Robert Barr, chapter 7, in In the Midst of Alarms:

     "This is the leach," said Kitty, pointing to a large, yellowish, upright wooden cylinder, which rested on some slanting boards, down the surface of which ran a brownish liquid that dripped into a trough.

3. (nautical) Alternative spelling of leech.
4. A jelly-like sweetmeat popular in the fifteenth century.
   • 1670, Hannah Woolley, “To make Leach and to colour it”, in The Queen-like Closet, Or, Rich Cabinet:

From Middle English *lechen, *lecchen, from Old English leċċan, from Proto-Germanic *lakjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-.

leach (leaches, present participle leaching; simple past and past participle leached)

1. (transitive) To purge a soluble matter out of something by the action of a percolating fluid.

   Heavy rainfall can leach out minerals important for plant growth from the soil.

2. (intransitive) To part with soluble constituents by percolation.

   The gangue was leached to recover minerals left behind by the original technology.

3. (figurative, intransitive) To bleed; to seep.

• French: lessiver
• German: auswaschen, auslaugen
• Italian: drenare, purgare, filtrare, percolare
• Portuguese: lixiviar
• Russian: вымывать
• Spanish: lixiviar

Two main origins:

• Occupational surname for a physician, from Old English lǣċe.
• Topographic surname for someone who lived by a boggy stream, from Old English læcc (related to Proto-Germanic *lekaną), or from several English placenames related to this (compare Leake).

1. Surname.
2. CDP in Delaware County, Oklahoma.
3. An unincorporated community in Carroll County, Tennessee.