leech
noun
any bloodsucking or carnivorous aquatic or terrestrial worm of the class Hirudinea, certain freshwater species of which were formerly much used in medicine for bloodletting.
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leech
1 American
[leech]
/ litʃ /
noun
-
any bloodsucking or carnivorous aquatic or terrestrial worm of the class Hirudinea, certain freshwater species of which were formerly much used in medicine for bloodletting.
-
a person who clings to another for personal gain, especially without giving anything in return, and usually with the implication or effect of exhausting the other's resources; parasite.
- Synonyms:
- sponger, extortionist, bloodsucker
-
Archaic. an instrument used for drawing blood.
verb (used with object)
-
leeches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
leeched,
past participle, past
-
leeching
present participle
-
to apply leeches to, so as to bleed.
-
to cling to and feed upon or drain, as a leech.
His relatives leeched him until his entire fortune was exhausted.
-
Archaic. to cure; heal.
verb (used without object)
-
leeches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
leeched,
past participle, past
-
leeching
present participle
leech
2
American
[leech]
/ litʃ /
noun
Archaic.
leech
3
American
[leech]
/ litʃ /
Or
leach
noun
Nautical.
-
either of the lateral edges of a square sail.
-
the after edge of a fore-and-aft sail.
Leech
4
American
[leech]
/ litʃ /
noun
leech
1
British
/ liːtʃ /
noun
-
any annelid worm of the class Hirudinea, which have a sucker at each end of the body and feed on the blood or tissues of other animals See also horseleech medicinal leech
-
a person who clings to or preys on another person
-
-
an archaic word for physician
-
( in combination )
leechcraft
-
-
to cling or adhere persistently to something
verb
leech
2
British
/ liːtʃ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
leechsimple
-
leechessimple
-
have leechedperfect
-
has leechedperfect
-
am leechingprogressive
-
are leechingprogressive
-
is leechingprogressive
-
have been leechingperfect progressive
-
has been leechingperfect progressive
Past
-
leechedsimple
-
had leechedperfect
-
was leechingprogressive
-
were leechingprogressive
-
had been leechingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of leech1
First recorded before 900; Middle English lech(e), Old English lǣce, lȳce; replacing (by association with leech 2 ) Middle English liche, Old English lȳce; cognate with Middle Dutch lake, leke, lieke; akin to Old English lūcan “to pull up, pull out,” Middle High German liechen “to pull”
Origin of leech2
First recorded before 950; Middle English leche, lech, lecche, Old English lǣce, lēce; cognate with Old Frisian letza, leischa, Old Saxon lāki, Old High German lāhhi, Gothic lēkeis; akin to Old Norse lǣknir
Origin of leech3
First recorded in 1480–90; earlier lek, leche, lyche; akin to Dutch lijk “leech, leech line,” Old Norse līk nautical term of uncertain meaning, but probably “bolt rope, leech line”
Explanation
A leech is a kind of worm that feeds by sucking blood from other animals. You might find yourself needing to pull a leech off your leg after swimming in a lake. Because leeches are parasites, it's common for people to use the word as a metaphor for someone who sponges off of other people. If you have a friend who is always borrowing money but never pays it back, and who is known for requesting favors without granting them in return, you can call him a leech. The blood-sucking leech was once commonly used by doctors who treated patients by "bleeding" them, a practice that's still occasionally used in medicine today.
Vocabulary lists containing leech
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"The Ransom of Red Chief" by O. Henry
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Amazing Animals, A-Z
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
And I wanted to leech off of that.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026
The way the leech plops onto the forest floor in the 2017 video, with very little obvious control of its landing, seems to be common among these creatures.
From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2024
As I inched up the rope, my arms ached, my left sock squished with blood from a leech bite, and I was marinating in sweat.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 23, 2024
Dr Davranoglou broke his arm in two places, one member contracted malaria, and another had a leech attached to his eye for a day and a half before it was finally removed at a hospital.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 9, 2023
It was the worst memory he had, and it latched onto his brain like a leech.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
“I’m an admirer of Baldwin’s writing,” he tells me via Zoom from the Leech Lake Reservation in north-central Minnesota, where he was raised as an enrolled member of the Ojibwe Nation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
It is the reason Treuer is speaking with me from Leech Lake.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
"We just want to be clear that there is a transparent rather than an opaque process," said Leech, who is the Liberal Democrat opposition leader on Manchester City Council.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Ken Leech, the former chief investment officer of bond-fund company Western Asset Management, just pleaded guilty in a criminal court in New York to a charge of obstructing justice for giving false and misleading testimony.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026
"Blackthumb keeps all the blades locked up, I told you that a hundred times. Is this for Lord Leech?"
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Under a chaotic canopy woven with vines and studded with fearsome spiked stems, the group crossed streams, waded through mud and picked off dozens of leeches.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
At age 25, Birutė Galdikas, the Canadian anthropologist, was wading through swamps riddled with parasites and leeches trying to catch a glimpse of orangutans, or, as she describes them, “survivors of Eden.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
Some hematophages are well-known: For example, vampire bats in the subfamily Desmodontinae helped inspire the legendary monsters that bear their name and no one can forget blood-sucking mosquitoes and leeches.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2024
They’re tipped into a chemical solution which leeches the gold out into the liquid.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2024
Arya pictured a plump pink baby in a cradle, covered with plump pink leeches.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
But multiple pharmacy owners told The Oregonian/OregonLive that an even larger challenge is the big share of profits leeched off by the pharmacy benefit managers.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
He said: "We were absolutely blown away when we saw the contents in there, as we might have expected them to have leeched out."
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2024
A massive environmental disaster has sent social media into a tailspin for days, following a train derailment in Ohio that leeched toxic chemicals into the ground, water and air.
From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2023
“Everybody who is in his orbit, if they’ve had any integrity, it gets leeched away from them like some parasite.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 6, 2020
His hands were in his pockets, and he looked sad and wistful, and maybe a bit faded, like something had leeched most of the color from him.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
By claiming to believe in demons, the vice president is leeching onto another youth trend, and probably getting a hefty boost in social media algorithms for it.
From Salon ● Apr. 1, 2026
These folks were, in fact, the flimsy remnants of Cuomo’s actual base: high-status opportunists leeching off one of their own.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2025
In the meantime, Millie told the inquiry "confusion, frustration and anxiety... was leeching into my home".
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2025
A trematode has a very specific life cycle, leeching onto three hosts that include a freshwater snail, a fish and then a bird or human who ate the infected fish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2025
It is an antique term for physician, and also for the aquatic worm sanguisugus, used for leeching.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
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