leaky

English

Etymology

Likely a normalisation ( +‎ -y) of earlier leak, leake, leke (“leaky”, adjective), from Middle English leke (“leaky”), from Old English hlec, *lec (“having cracks or rents; leaky”), from Proto-Germanic *lekaz (“leaking; leaky”). By surface analysis, leak +‎ -y. Cognate with Scots lek, leck (“leaky”), Saterland Frisian läk (“leaky”), Dutch lek (“leaky”), German Low German leck (“leaky”), German leck (“leaky”), Swedish läck (“leaky”), Icelandic lekur (“leaky”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈliːki/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːki
• Homophone: leeky

Adjective

leaky (comparative leakier, superlative leakiest)

1. Having leaks; not fully sealed.

   The leaky bucket dripped only one drop at a time, but by the time I got back to the house it was half empty.

   The ceiling was so leaky that someone had to fix it.

   • 1983, Michael Stephenson, Roger Hearn, The Nuclear Case Book:

     Nuclear reactors in Russian submarines are said to be so leaky that crews are often paid "sterility money".

Derived terms

• leakily
• leakiness
• leaky abstraction
• leaky brain syndrome
• leaky bucket
• leaky gut syndrome
• leaky weir
• nonleaky
• unleaky

Translations

having leaks; allows contents to escape

Amharic: please add this translation if you can Arabic: please add this translation if you can Armenian: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can Burmese: please add this translation if you can Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Czech: please add this translation if you can Danish: please add this translation if you can Dutch: please add this translation if you can Estonian: please add this translation if you can Finnish: vuotava (fi) French: percé (fr) Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: undicht (de) Greek: please add this translation if you can Hungarian: folyó (hu), lyukas (hu) Italian: please add this translation if you can Japanese: please add this translation if you can Khmer: please add this translation if you can Korean: please add this translation if you can Lao: please add this translation if you can Latin: fūtilis Macedonian: please add this translation if you can Maori: turuturu, wairere Old English: hlec Plautdietsch: lakjsch Polish: nieszczelny (pl) Portuguese: please add this translation if you can Romanian: please add this translation if you can Russian: протека́ющий (ru) (protekájuščij), дыря́вый (ru) (dyrjávyj) Scottish Gaelic: aoidionach Slovak: please add this translation if you can Slovene: please add this translation if you can Spanish: permeable (es), llovedizo (es) (overhead structure, rainwater) Thai: please add this translation if you can Vietnamese: rò rỉ, rò (vi), rỉ (vi)

Anagrams

• Eakly, Kaley, Kealy, Keyla, Lakey, kayle, leyak