leech

1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈlēch 

plural leeches

1

: any of numerous carnivorous or bloodsucking usually freshwater annelid worms (class Hirudinea) that have typically a flattened lanceolate segmented body with a sucker at each end

2

: a hanger-on who seeks advantage or gain

a celebrity surrounded by leeches who only want his money

3

archaic : physician, surgeon

leechlike

ˈlēch-ˌlīk 

adjective

leech

2 of 3

verb

leeched; leeching; leeches

intransitive verb

: to attach oneself to a person as a leech

… she would leech on to him and drain the life out of him.

—W. L. Gresham

transitive verb

1

: to bleed by the use of leeches

2

: to drain the substance of : exhaust

… bankers who had always leeched them white.

—D. A. Munro

leech

3 of 3

noun (2)

ˈlēch 

variants or less commonly leach

1

: either vertical edge of a square sail

2

: the after edge of a fore-and-aft sail

Synonyms of leech

Noun (1)

• parasite

Choose the Right Synonym for leech

parasite, sycophant, toady, leech, sponge mean a usually obsequious flatterer or self-seeker.

parasite applies to one who clings to a person of wealth, power, or influence or is useless to society.

a jet-setter with an entourage of parasites

sycophant adds to this a strong suggestion of fawning, flattery, or adulation.

a powerful prince surrounded by sycophants

toady emphasizes the servility and snobbery of the self-seeker.

cultivated leaders of society and became their toady

leech stresses persistence in clinging to or bleeding another for one's own advantage.

a leech living off his family and friends

sponge stresses the parasitic laziness, dependence, and opportunism of the cadger.

a shiftless sponge, always looking for a handout

Examples of leech in a Sentence

Noun (1)

whenever the gang went out for pizza, the leech in the group always had an excuse for not paying his fair share

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Dysmenorrhea might be treated by placing leeches on the abdomen to increase blood loss. —Literary Hub, 11 Mar. 2026

In an effort to save Cathy, doctors place leeches over her body in hopes of removing the bad blood. —Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 14 Feb. 2026

Verb

And typically, Wegmann added, those units are occupied by productive, working adults, not layabouts or career criminals leeching off the system, as the old narrative goes. —Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 Mar. 2026

First of all, most batteries contain cobalt, nickel, manganese, and other heavy metals that can be potentially toxic, and keeping them out of landfills ensures that these metals don’t leech out and pollute drinking water or the natural environment. —Katherine Gallagher, Treehugger, 20 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English leche "physician, heeler, leech," going back to Old English lǣce (Anglian lēce), going back to Germanic *lēkja- (whence also Old Frisian lētza, leitza "physician," Middle Dutch lake, lieke "leech," early Modern Dutch [Flanders] laecke, Old High German lâchi "physician," Old Danish læki, lækæ, Gothic lekeis [written leikeis]), perhaps akin to the Celtic source of Old Irish lieig, liaig "physician"

Note: Dictionaries of English have tended to treat the senses "physician" and "bloodsucking annelid worm" with separate lemmata, though there is a significant degree of overlap in form. Oxford English Dictionary, first edition, singles out the Kentish (Old English) form lyces (genitive), Middle English lich (attested once?), and the Middle Dutch form lieke as evidence for a separate etymon, conformed to the "healer" word by folk etymology. It is presumed that the medical practice of bloodletting, sometimes done by means of leeches, influenced this convergence. Aside from poetic and deliberately archaic use, and application to veterinarians, leech in reference to a physician was no longer current in English by ca. 1700. Other formations in Germanic appear to be deverbal, as Old Icelandic læknir, læknari "physician," from lækna "to cure, heal," Gothic galekinon; Swedish läkare "physician," from läka "to heal." Presumed to be loanwords from Germanic are Russian leká "(archaic or regional) treatment, cure, drug," lékar' "(archaic or pejorative) physician," lečít' "to treat, cure" (all with e exceptionally for jat'), Old Church Slavic lěčĭba "treatment, cure," with cognates in other Slavic languages. The relevance of Old Irish lieig to the Germanic etymon is questionable, given that it is bisyllabic and the vocalism, whatever its earlier form, cannot directly match Germanic ē; if it is not related, the correspondence in consonants and sense is striking, but perhaps coincidental. The hypothesis that the base of *lēkja- is Indo-European *leg- "gather, select," and that the lengthened-grade *lēk- represents an old root noun meaning "collection" (comparable with Latin lēx "law"?) is doubtful on both semantic and morphological grounds.

Verb

derivative of leech entry 1

Noun (2)

Middle English leche; akin to Middle Low German līk boltrope

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Verb

1641, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Noun (2)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing leech

• medicinal leech

Rhymes for leech

• beach
• beech
• bleach
• breach
• breech
• each
• keech
• leach
• meech
• peach
• preach
• reach

Kids Definition

leech

noun

ˈlēch

1

: any of numerous flesh-eating or bloodsucking usually flattened worms that are made up of segments and have a sucker at each end

2

: a person who clings like a leech to another person for advantage or gain : parasite

Etymology

Noun

Old English lǣce "doctor, physician"

Word Origin

In the early days of medicine, a physician, known in Old English as a lǣce, often drew blood from patients. These doctors acted in the belief that good health depended on a balance of four controlling fluids in the body. These four fluids were called humors, and one of them was blood. In those days physicians believed that a person became ill if there was too much blood or too little of any of the other humors in the body. Thus they used a controlled bleeding of the patient, or bloodletting as it was called, to balance the humors. An easy way to do this was to attach bloodsucking worms to the body. These worms are common in all parts of the world and especially in marshes and swamps. Today we call these sucking worms leeches, taking the name from those ancient doctors who used them so often.

Medical Definition

leech

1 of 2 noun

ˈlēch 

: any of numerous carnivorous or bloodsucking annelid worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea, that typically have a flattened segmented lance-shaped body with well-marked external annulations, a sucker at each end, a mouth within the anterior sucker, and a large stomach with pouches of large capacity at the sides, that are hermaphroditic usually with direct development, and that occur chiefly in freshwater although a few are marine and some tropical forms are terrestrial see medicinal leech

leech

2 of 2 transitive verb

1

: to treat as a physician : cure, heal

2

: to bleed by the use of leeches