leaf

English

/liːf/

noun
Definitions
  • The usually green and flat organ that represents the most prominent feature of most vegetative plants.
  • Anything resembling the leaf of a plant.
  • A sheet of any substance beaten or rolled until very thin.
  • A sheet of a book, magazine, etc (consisting of two pages, one on each face of the leaf).
  • (in the plural) tea Tea leaves.
  • A flat section used to extend the size of a table.
  • A moveable panel, e.g. of a bridge or door, originally one that hinged but now also applied to other forms of movement.
  • (botany) A foliage leaf or any of the many and often considerably different structures it can specialise into.
  • (computing) In a tree, a node that has no descendants.
  • The layer of fat supporting the kidneys of a pig, leaf fat.
  • One of the teeth of a pinion, especially when small.
  • (slang) Marijuana.
  • (internet slang) (pejorative) A Canadian person.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English leef inherited from Old English lēaf (leaf, permission, foliage, privilege, leave) inherited from *laub (leaf, folliage) inherited from Proto-Germanic *laubą (leaf) inherited from Proto-Indo-European *lowbʰ-o-m.

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*lowbʰ-o-m

Gloss

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms