Dictionary

leaky en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈliːki/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Likely a normalisation ( + -y) of earlier leak, leake, leke (“leaky”, adjective), from Middle English leke (“leaky”), from Old English hlec, *lec (“having cracks or rents; leaky”), from Proto-Germanic *lekaz (“leaking; leaky”). By surface analysis, leak + -y. Cognate with Scots lek, leck (“leaky”), Saterland Frisian läk (“leaky”), Dutch lek (“leaky”), German Low German leck (“leaky”), German leck (“leaky”), Swedish läck (“leaky”), Icelandic lekur (“leaky”).

Meanings

1. Having leaks; not fully sealed.
   • The leaky bucket dripped only one drop at a time, but by the time I got back to the house it was half empty.
   • The ceiling was so leaky that someone had to fix it.
   • Nuclear reactors in Russian submarines are said to be so leaky that crews are often paid "sterility money". 1983, Michael Stephenson, Roger Hearn, The Nuclear Case Book:
2. Tending to leak secrets or information.
   • The spooks' argument against this is that the secret service would become leaky and demoralised […] 1986, The Spectator, volume 257, numbers 8252-8268, page 6:

Forms

Deriveds

leaky abstraction · leaky bucket · leaky brain syndrome · leaky gut syndrome · leakily · leaky rectified linear unit · leaky weir · nonleaky · unleaky · leakiness

Translations (20)

mi turuturu (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · es llovedizo (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · vi rò (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · hu lyukas (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · pdt lakjsch (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · mi wairere (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · ru дыря́вый (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · de undicht (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · es permeable (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · fi vuotava (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · am የሚያፈስ (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · vi rỉ (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · la fūtilis (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · hu folyó (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · vi rò rỉ (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · pl nieszczelny (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · gd aoidionach (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · fr percé (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · ang hlec (having leaks; allows contents to escape) · ru протека́ющий (having leaks; allows contents to escape)