leak

English

/liːk/

noun
Definitions
  • A crack, crevice, fissure, or hole which admits water or other fluid, or lets it escape.
  • The entrance or escape of a fluid through a crack, fissure, or other aperture.
  • A divulgation, or disclosure, of information previously held secret.
  • The person through whom such divulgation, or disclosure, occurs.
  • A loss of electricity through imperfect insulation, or the point where it occurs.
  • (computing) The gradual loss of a system resource caused by failure to deallocate previously reserved portions.
  • (vulgar) An act of urination.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English leken (let water in out) borrowed from Middle Dutch leken (drip, leak) borrowed from Old Norse leka (leak, drip) inherited from Proto-Germanic *lekaną (leak, drain) derived from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (drain, leak).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*leg-

Gloss

drain, leak

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms