Jump to:

• leach
  leach

  verb (used with object)

  to dissolve out soluble constituents from (ashes, soil, etc.) by percolation.
• Leach
  Leach

  noun

  Bernard ( Howell ). 1887–1979, British potter, born in Hong Kong

leach

¹ American  

[leech] / litʃ /

verb (used with object)

1. to dissolve out soluble constituents from (ashes, soil, etc.) by percolation.

2. to cause (water or other liquid) to percolate through something.

---

verb (used without object)

1. (of ashes, soil, etc.) to undergo the action of percolating water.

2. to percolate, as water.

noun

1. the act or process of leaching.

2. a product or solution obtained by leaching; leachate.

3. the material leached.

4. a vessel for use in leaching.

leach ² American  

[leech] / litʃ /

noun

Nautical.

1. leech.

---

leach ¹ British  

/ liːtʃ /

verb

1. to remove or be removed from a substance by a percolating liquid

2. to lose or cause to lose soluble substances by the action of a percolating liquid

3. another word for percolate percolate

---

noun

1. the act or process of leaching

2. a substance that is leached or the constituents removed by leaching

3. a porous vessel for leaching

Leach ² British  

/ liːtʃ /

noun

1. Bernard ( Howell ). 1887–1979, British potter, born in Hong Kong

---

leach ³ British  

/ liːtʃ /

noun

1. a variant spelling of leech 2

---

Other Word Forms

• leachability
  noun
• leachable
  adjective
• leacher
  noun
• unleached
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of leach

1425–75; late Middle English leche leachate, infusion, probably Old English *læc ( e ), *lec ( e ), akin to leccan to wet, moisten, causative of leak

Explanation

When minerals or other materials are pulled out of some substance by a liquid, you can say that they leach from it. A flood can leach important nutrients out of a farmer's field. In agriculture, when farmers allow cattle to graze too much in one spot, or don't rotate their crops from field to field over the years, they risk having a heavy rain leach nutrients from the soil. Sometimes farmers will use water to deliberately leach unwanted materials, like salt, from a field. The verb leach has an Old English root word, leccan, or "to moisten, water, wet, or irrigate."

Example Sentences

Leach recently ran his first 50K, and “my shoe choice for the event was awful,” he says of the minimalist Nike Terra Kigers that left his feet torn up from the rocky course.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026

Now, Leach typically logs one big trail run—usually 15-plus miles—per week alongside his other workouts.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026

If not Bashir, would England go back to Jack Leach, Liam Dawson, or even leg-spinner Mason Crane, whose only Test cap came more than eight years ago?

From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026

"This year we've used more than we have the last four Decembers combined," David Leach, the commission's managing director, told CBS News.

From Barron's • Jan. 21, 2026

I’d been hoping to get Ms. Leach for fifth grade.

From "Crenshaw" by Katherine Applegate