levain

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French levain.

Noun

levain (plural levains)

1. (baking) A starter dough for sourdough bread.

Synonyms

• mother dough
• mother sponge
• starter dough

Anagrams

• Lavine, alevin, alvine, leavin', valine, veinal, venial, vineal

French

French Wikipedia has an article on:

levain

Wikipedia ^fr

Etymology

Inherited from Old French levain, from Vulgar Latin *levāmen, from levō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lə.vɛ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Agen)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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Noun

levain m (plural levains)

1. sourdough
2. leaven (any agent used to make dough rise)

Related terms

• levure

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• nivela