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leaven. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
leaven, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
leaven in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
leaven you have here. The definition of the word
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leaven, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle English levayn, borrowed from Old French levain, from Vulgar Latin *levāmen, a noun based on Latin levō (“raise”).
Pronunciation
Noun
leaven (countable and uncountable, plural leavens)
- Any agent used to make dough rise or to have a similar effect on baked goods.
- (figurative) Anything that induces change, especially a corrupting or vitiating change.
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXVI, in Francesca Carrara. , volume III, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 299:On the far side was reflected a single red and meteoric cloud, which had treasured one last crimson ray from the sunset, or perhaps nursed within it the fiery leaven.
1926, T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York: Anchor, published 1991, page 213:The leaven of insincerity worked through all the fibres of his being.
Synonyms
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations
any agent used to make dough rise
- Arabic: خَمِيرَة f (ḵamīra)
- Armenian: թթխմոր (hy) (tʻtʻxmor)
- Azerbaijani: maya (az)
- Bulgarian: набухвател m (nabuhvatel)
- Catalan: llevat (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 酵母 (zh) (jiàomǔ), 麵肥/面肥 (zh) (miànféi)
- Classical Nahuatl: xocotextli
- Cornish: gwel m
- Dutch: rijsmiddel (nl) n
- Esperanto: fermentilo
- Finnish: nostatusaine (fi)
- French: levain (fr) m, ferment (fr) m
- Friulian: levan m
- Galician: lévedo (gl) m, fermento (gl) m, isco m
- German: Treibmittel n, Triebmittel n, Ferment (de) n
- Gothic: 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍃𐍄 n (beist)
- Greek:
- Ancient: ζύμη f (zúmē)
- Hebrew: שאור (he) (s'or)
- Hungarian: kovász (hu), élesztő (hu)
- Ido: hefo (io)
- Irish: gabháil m
- Italian: lievito (it)
- Japanese: パン種 (pan-dane), 膨張剤 (ぼうちょうざい, bōchōzai)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: ھەوێن (hewên)
- Northern Kurdish: havên (ku)
- Latvian: rauga f
- Lithuanian: raugas m
- Malay: bahan penaik
- Manx: jastee m, jiastyn f, soorid m
- Maori: rēwena
- Middle English: sour dogh, levayn
- Norwegian: hevingsmiddel n
- Occitan: levam (oc) m
- Old Church Slavonic: квасъ m (kvasŭ)
- Ottoman Turkish: مایه (maya)
- Persian: مایه (fa) (mâye)
- Polish: zaczyn m
- Portuguese: fermento (pt) m, levedura (pt) f
- Romanian: plămădeală (ro) f, maia (ro) f, covoseală f, plămadă (ro) f
- Romansch: levon m, levànt m, lavamaint m, tschadamaint m, alvo, alvamaint m
- Russian: заква́ска (ru) f (zakváska), разрыхли́тель (ru) m (razryxlítelʹ) (те́ста)
- Sicilian: criscenti (scn)
- Spanish: levadura (es) f, polvos de hornear m pl
- Swahili: chachu (sw) class 9, hamira (sw)
- Tagalog: lebadura
- Turkish: maya (tr)
- Venetian: levà m
- Walloon: lewin (wa) m
- Welsh: surdoes m, eples m, lefain m
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Verb
leaven (third-person singular simple present leavens, present participle leavening, simple past and past participle leavened)
- (transitive) To add a leavening agent.
- (transitive) To cause to rise by fermentation.
- (transitive, figuratively) To temper an action or decision.
c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Duke. No more euasion:
We haue with a leauen'd, and prepared choice
Proceeded to you; therefore take your honors:[...]
1992, Rudolf M Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page vii:With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get […]
- (transitive, figuratively) To imbue; to infect; to vitiate.
1649, John Milton, Eikonoklastes, London, published 1756, page 30:With these and the like deceivable doctrines, he levens also his prayer.
1716, Thomas Browne, edited by Samuel Johnson, Christian Morals, 2nd edition, London: J. Payne, published 1756, Part I, p. 7:[…] pursue virtue virtuously: leven not good actions, nor render virtues disputable. Stain not fair acts with foul intentions […]
- To rise or become larger. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Derived terms
Translations
to cause to rise by fermentation
See also
West Frisian
Noun
leaven
- plural of leaf