laîche

See also: laiche, Laiche, and láiche

French

Etymology

From Middle French laische, from Old French lesche (“sedge”), from Frankish *lisca, *liska (“sedge”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-West Germanic *hlisku, *hlisiku, *hlusiku (“sedge”), a diminutive of Proto-West Germanic *hlus (“reed, sedge”). The ultimate origin could be:

speculated ultimate origins

• Borrowed from Romance/Medieval Latin lisca, though the reverse is also possible; this could be from Vulgar Latin *alisca, from Latin arista (“(ear of) corn, grain, awn”).
• From Proto-Indo-European *leu, related to Lithuanian laure (“dirty person”), referring to the mud it grows in.
• From a pre-Germanic/pre-Roman substrate language.

Cognate with Old High German liska, lisca ( > Modern German Liesch (“sedge”)), Old Saxon hlus (“rush, reed”), Middle Dutch lies, liesc (“sedge”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɛʃ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

laîche f (plural laîches)

1. sedge (any plant of the genus Carex)

Further reading

• “laîche”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• chiale, chialé, léchai