leaky
/ˈliːki/ adjective
Forms leakier leakiest
- adjective 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.”
- adjective Tending to leak secrets or information.
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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”).
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “leaky”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details