Standard Lemma guide

lentil

noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈlɛntəl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛntəl
  • CMU ARPABET: L EH1 N T AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of several plants of the genus Lens, especially Lens culinaris, from southwest Asia, that have edible, lens-shaped seeds within flattened pods.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The seed of these plants, used as food.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • make a lentil stew
  • a lentil salad

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A small chocolate candy in an edible shell.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dragée

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

round flat seed of the lentil plant used for food

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: legume

5

noun

Meaning 5

widely cultivated Eurasian annual herb grown for its edible flattened seeds that are cooked like peas and also ground into meal and for its leafy stalks that are used as fodder

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: lentil plant, Lens culinaris

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: legume, leguminous plant

6

noun

Meaning 6

the fruit or seed of a lentil plant

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: legume

History

Etymology

From Middle English lentile, from Old French lentille from Latin lenticula, diminutive of lēns, from a pre-Indo-European substrate source shared by German Linse, Ancient Greek λάθυρος (láthuros) and Lithuanian lęšis. Doublet of lenticula.

Across languages

Translations

170 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: thjerrë — plant Lens culinaris
  • Arabic: عَدَس (ʕadas) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Arabic: عدس (ʕads) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Armenian: ոսպ (osp) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Old Armenian: ոսպն (ospn) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Aromanian: linti — plant Lens culinaris
  • Aromanian: pãpudã — plant Lens culinaris
  • Bashkir: яҫмыҡ (yaśmıq) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Belarusian: сачаві́ца (sačavíca) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Belarusian: сачы́ўка (sačýwka) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Belarusian: сачэ́ўка (sačéwka) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Belarusian: сачо́ўка (sačówka) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Bengali: মসুর (mośur) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Bengali: ডাল (ḍal) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Bulgarian: леща (lešta) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Catalan: llentilla — plant Lens culinaris
  • Chinese Mandarin: 扁豆 (biǎndòu) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Chinese Mandarin: 小扁豆 (xiǎobiǎndòu) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Coptic: ⲁⲣϣⲓⲛ (aršin) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Czech: čočka jedlá — plant Lens culinaris
  • Danish: linse — plant Lens culinaris
  • Dutch: linze — plant Lens culinaris
  • Dutch: linzenplant — plant Lens culinaris
  • Esperanto: lento — plant Lens culinaris
  • Finnish: kylvövirvilä — plant Lens culinaris
  • Finnish: linssi — plant Lens culinaris
  • French: lentille — plant Lens culinaris
  • Friulian: lint — plant Lens culinaris
  • Galician: lentella — plant Lens culinaris
  • Georgian: ოსპი (osṗi) — plant Lens culinaris
  • German: Linse — plant Lens culinaris
  • Greek: φακή (fakí) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Ancient Greek: φακός (phakós) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Gujarati: મસુર (masur) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Hebrew: עֲדָשָׁה ('adashá) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Hindi: दाल (dāl) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Indonesian: kacang adas — plant Lens culinaris
  • Ingrian: cecevitsa — plant Lens culinaris
  • Italian: lenticchia — plant Lens culinaris
  • Japanese: ヒラマメ (hiramame) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Japanese: 扁豆 (hiramame) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Japanese: レンズマメ (renzumame) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Korean: 렌즈콩 (renjeukong) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Central Kurdish: نیسک (nîsk) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Laki: نوژی (nujî) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Northern Kurdish: nîsk — plant Lens culinaris
  • Southern Kurdish: نِژی (nijî) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Kyrgyz: жасмык (jasmık) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Latin: lens — plant Lens culinaris
  • Macedonian: леќа (leḱa) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Marathi: मसूर (masūr) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Mazanderani: مرجی (marji) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Norwegian Bokmål: linse — plant Lens culinaris
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: linse — plant Lens culinaris
  • Occitan: lentilha — plant Lens culinaris
  • Old East Slavic: сочевица (sočevica) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Old English: lent — plant Lens culinaris
  • Pannonian Rusyn: лєнча (ljenča) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Persian: مرجومک (marjumak) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Persian: مرجو (marju) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Persian: عدس ('adas) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Polish: soczewica jadalna — plant Lens culinaris
  • Portuguese: lentilha — plant Lens culinaris
  • Romanian: linte — plant Lens culinaris
  • Russian: чечеви́ца (čečevíca) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Santali: ᱢᱤᱥᱨᱤ ᱫᱟᱹᱞ (misri dăl) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Serbo-Croatian: leća — plant Lens culinaris
  • Serbo-Croatian: sočivo — plant Lens culinaris
  • Serbo-Croatian: сочиво — plant Lens culinaris
  • Sinhalese: මසූර් (masūr) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Slovene: leča — plant Lens culinaris
  • Spanish: lenteja — plant Lens culinaris
  • Swedish: lins — plant Lens culinaris
  • Tagalog: lentehas — plant Lens culinaris
  • Tamil: துவரை (tuvarai) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Tigrinya: ዓደስ (ʿadäs) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Turkish: mercimek — plant Lens culinaris
  • Ottoman Turkish: مردمك (merdümek) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Ukrainian: сочеви́ця (sočevýcja) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Ukrainian: сочови́ця (sočovýcja) — plant Lens culinaris
  • Welsh: corbysen — plant Lens culinaris
  • Arabic: عَدَس (ʕadas) — seed used as food
  • Arabic: عدس (ʕads) — seed used as food
  • Arabic: عدسة (ʕadsa) — seed used as food
  • Aragonese: lentilla — seed used as food
  • Armenian: ոսպ (osp) — seed used as food
  • Old Armenian: ոսպն (ospn) — seed used as food
  • Asturian: llenteya — seed used as food
  • Azerbaijani: mərci — seed used as food
  • Azerbaijani: mərcimək — seed used as food
  • Bashkir: яҫмыҡ (yaśmıq) — seed used as food
  • Basque: dilista — seed used as food
  • Bulgarian: леща (lešta) — seed used as food
  • Burmese: ပဲနီလေး (pai:nile:) — seed used as food
  • Catalan: llentilla — seed used as food
  • Catalan: llentia — seed used as food
  • Chinese Mandarin: 扁豆 (biǎndòu) — seed used as food
  • Chinese Mandarin: 小扁豆 (xiǎobiǎndòu) — seed used as food
  • Chuvash: ясмӑк (jasmăk) — seed used as food
  • Coptic: ⲁⲣϣⲓⲛ (aršin) — seed used as food
  • Czech: čočka — seed used as food
  • Danish: linse — seed used as food
  • Dutch: linze — seed used as food
  • Esperanto: lento — seed used as food
  • Finnish: linssi — seed used as food
  • French: lentille — seed used as food
  • Friulian: lint — seed used as food
  • Galician: lentella — seed used as food
  • Georgian: ოსპი (osṗi) — seed used as food
  • German: Linse — seed used as food
  • Greek: φακή (fakí) — seed used as food
  • Ancient Greek: φακός (phakós) — seed used as food
  • Hindi: दाल (dāl) — seed used as food
  • Hungarian: lencse — seed used as food
  • Icelandic: linsubaun — seed used as food
  • Icelandic: flatbaun — seed used as food
  • Indonesian: kacang — seed used as food
  • Ingrian: cecevitsa — seed used as food
  • Italian: lenticchia — seed used as food
  • Japanese: レンズ豆 (renzumame) — seed used as food
  • Japanese: ヒラマメ (hiramame) — seed used as food
  • Kannada: ಮಸೂರ ಅವರೆ (masūra avare) — seed used as food
  • Kazakh: жасымық (jasymyq) — seed used as food
  • Korean: 렌즈콩 (renjeukong) — seed used as food
  • Korean: 편두 (pyeondu) — seed used as food
  • Northern Kurdish: nîsk — seed used as food
  • Kyrgyz: жасмык (jasmık) — seed used as food
  • Latin: lens — seed used as food
  • Latvian: lēca — seed used as food
  • Ligurian: lentìggia — seed used as food
  • Lithuanian: lęšis — seed used as food
  • Low German: Lins — seed used as food
  • Malay: kacang — seed used as food
  • Māori: rētini — seed used as food
  • Nahuatl: caxtillan pitzahuac etl — seed used as food
  • Nepali: दाल (dāl) — seed used as food
  • Norwegian Bokmål: linse — seed used as food
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: linse — seed used as food
  • Occitan: lentilha — seed used as food
  • Old English: lent — seed used as food
  • Persian: عدس ('adas) — seed used as food
  • Persian: مرجو (marju) — seed used as food
  • Persian: مرجومک (marjumak) — seed used as food
  • Polish: soczewica — seed used as food
  • Portuguese: lentilha — seed used as food
  • Réunion Creole French: lantiy — seed used as food
  • Romanian: linte — seed used as food
  • Russian: чечеви́ца (čečevíca) — seed used as food
  • Serbo-Croatian: leća — seed used as food
  • Slovak: šošovica — seed used as food
  • Slovene: leča — seed used as food
  • Spanish: lenteja — seed used as food
  • Swedish: lins — seed used as food
  • Tagalog: lentehas — seed used as food
  • Tamil: மைசூர்ப் பருப்பு (maicūrp paruppu) — seed used as food
  • Tatar: yasmıq — seed used as food
  • Thai: ถั่ว (tùua) — seed used as food
  • Tigrinya: ዓደስ (ʿadäs) — seed used as food
  • Turkish: mercimek — seed used as food
  • Turkish: yasmık — seed used as food
  • Ottoman Turkish: مردمك (merdümek) — seed used as food
  • Ukrainian: сочеви́ця (sočevýcja) — seed used as food
  • Uyghur: يېسمۇق (yësmuq) — seed used as food
  • Uzbek: yasmiq — seed used as food
  • Venetan: lente — seed used as food
  • Venetan: lenta — seed used as food
  • Venetan: lent — seed used as food
  • Vietnamese: đậu lăng — seed used as food
  • Welsh: corbysen — seed used as food
  • Yiddish: לינדז (lindz) — seed used as food