milk

English

/mɪlk/, [mɛlk]

noun
Definitions
  • (uncountable) A white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals to nourish their young. From certain animals, especially cows, it is also called dairy milk and is a common food for humans as a beverage or used to produce various dairy products such as butter, cheese, and yogurt.
  • (uncountable) A white (or whitish) liquid obtained from a vegetable source such as almonds, coconuts, oats, rice, and/or soy beans. Also called non-dairy milk.
  • (countable) An individual serving of milk.
  • (countable) An individual portion of milk, such as found in a creamer, for tea and coffee.
  • The ripe, undischarged spat of an oyster.
  • (uncountable) Semen.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English milk inherited from Old English meolc inherited from Proto-Germanic *meluks (milk) derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ- (milk, wipe off, wipe), *h₂melǵ- (milk, wipe off, wipe).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*h₂melǵ-

Gloss

milk, wipe off, wipe

Concept
Semantic Field

Food and drink

Ontological Category

Person/Thing

Kanji

乳

Emoji
🍼 🐄 🐐 🐮 🥛 🧋

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms