lentil
lentil Lexical Profile
lentil Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The edible, lens-shaped seed of an Old World leguminous plant (Lens culinaris), widely dried and cooked as a protein-rich pulse and culinary vegetable in soups, stews, and curries.
"She simmered brown lentils with garlic, carrots, and celery to make a hearty winter soup."
A bushy annual plant of the pea family (Fabaceae), native to the Near East and widely cultivated in temperate and subtropical regions for its small pods containing two flat, biconvex seeds.
"Farmers often rotate wheat crops with lentils because the plants help restore nitrogen to the soil."
• Rhymes for lentil
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Old French lentille, from Vulgar Latin lenticula, a diminutive of Classical Latin lens ('lentil'). Because a glass optical lens resembles the double-convex shape of a lentil seed, the English word 'lens' was later adopted directly from the same Latin root.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.