Category:Leek

Leek, n. Etym: [AS.leác; akin to D. look, G. lauch, OHG. louh, Icel. laukr, Sw. lök, Dan lög. Cf. Garlic.] (Bot.)

Defn: A plant of the genus Allium (A. Porrum), having broadly linear succulent leaves rising from a loose oblong cylindrical bulb. The flavor is stronger than that of the common onion. Wild leek, in America, a plant (Allium tricoccum) with a cluster of ovoid bulbs and large oblong elliptical leaves.

-

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Leek - (Heb. hatsir ; the Allium porrum), rendered "grass" in 1 Kings 18:5, 2 Kings 19:26, Job 40:15, etc.; "herb" in Job 8:12; "hay" in Proverbs 27:25, and Isaiah 15:6; "leeks" only in Numbers 11:5. This Hebrew word seems to denote in this last passage simply herbs, such as lettuce or savory herbs cooked as kitchen vegetables, and not necessarily what are now called leeks. The leek was a favorite vegetable in Egypt, and is still largely cultivated there and in Palestine.