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Lettuce

3 stages from Latin to English.

Today it means a leafy green plant eaten raw in salads

Where does the word "lettuce" come from? It comes from Latin lactuca, passing through Old French before entering English (1200s).

lactuca→laitues→lettuce

Latin · ancient

from 'lac', milk, for the milky sap that seeps from cut stems

Old French · medieval

plural of 'laitue'; English borrowed the plural and treated it as singular

English · 1200s

"a salad plant"

later picked up American slang sense of paper money, from its green leaves

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Read the full story

Lettuce’s story begins in Latin: lactuca meant “lettuce.” From 'lac', milk, for the milky sap that seeps from cut stems. By medieval, the word had taken hold in Old French as laitues. Plural of 'laitue'; English borrowed the plural and treated it as singular. It reached English by 1200s as lettuce. Later picked up American slang sense of paper money, from its green leaves. Today, lettuce means a leafy green plant eaten raw in salads.