Etymology
1. "to let water in or out" [Johnson], 1420, from M.Du.
leken "to drip, to leak," or from O.N.
leka, cognate of O.E.
leccan "to moisten" (which did not survive into M.E.), all from P.Gmc.
*lek- "deficiency" (cf. O.H.G.
lecchen "to become dry," Ger.
lechzen "to be parched with thirst"). The noun is from 1487. The figurative meaning "come to be known in spite of efforts at concealment" dates from at least 1832; transitive sense first recorded 1859; the noun in this sense dates from 1950. Noun sense of "act of urination" is from 1934 (first attested in "Tropic of Cancer"); but the verb meaning "to piss" is from 1596.
"Why, you will allow vs ne're a Iourden, and then we leake in your Chimney." ["I Hen. IV," II.i.22]
2. From Middle English leken (“to let water in or out”), from Old English *lecan (“to leak”), Middle Dutch leken (“to leak, drip”) or Old Norse leka (“to leak, drip”); all from Proto-Germanic *lekaną (“to leak, drain”), from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to leak”).
3. Cognate with Dutch lekken (“to leak”), German lechen, lecken (“to leak”), Danish lække (“to leak”), Swedish läcka (“to leak”), Norwegian Bokmål lekke (“to leak”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Norwegian Nynorsk leka (“to leak”). Related also to Old English leċċan (“to water, wet”), Albanian lag, lak (“to damp, make wet”). See also leach, lake.
4. (divulgation, disclosure of information): Compare typologically Bulgarian изтичане (iztičane), Polish przeciek, Russian уте́чка (utéčka) (akin to течь impf or f (tečʹ)). See: Proto-Germanic '
*lekaną', Dutch '
lekken', German, old spelling '
lechen', Danish '
lække', Swedish '
läcka', Norwegian '
lekke', Albanian '
lag'.
Verbs referencing "leak"
Scots Gaelic
leagh, Norwegian
lekke, Ido likar, German, old spelling
leaken, Manx
lheie, Irish
leáigh, Old Irish
legaid.