Standard Lemma guide

vetch

noun · 3 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

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/vɛt͡ʃ/
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rhymes with -ɛtʃ

noun

Meaning 1

Any of several leguminous plants, of the genus Vicia, often grown as green manure and for their edible seeds.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

noun

Meaning 2

Any of several similar plants within the subfamily Faboideae.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

noun

Meaning 3

any of various climbing plants of the genus Vicia having pinnately compound leaves that terminate in tendrils and small variously colored flowers; includes valuable forage and soil-building plants

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, leguminous plant

Narrower terms: tare, tufted vetch, bird vetch, Calnada pea, Vicia cracca, bitter betch, Vicia orobus, spring vetch, Vicia sativa, bush vetch, Vicia sepium

History

Etymology

From Middle English vecche, fecche, ficche, from Old Northern French veche, variant of Old French vece, from Latin vicia. Doublet of fitch.

Across languages

Translations

58 source translations are retained for this English entry.

Albanian: grindë — plant of the genus Vicia
Arabic: بِيقِيَّة (bīqiyya) — plant of the genus Vicia
Bulgarian: фий (fij) — plant of the genus Vicia
Catalan: veça — plant of the genus Vicia
Cornish: gwegbys — plant of the genus Vicia
Czech: vikev — plant of the genus Vicia
Dutch: wikke — plant of the genus Vicia
Estonian: hiirehernes — plant of the genus Vicia
Finnish: virna — plant of the genus Vicia
French: vesce — plant of the genus Vicia
Galician: ervellaca — plant of the genus Vicia
Galician: fabaca — plant of the genus Vicia
Galician: veza — plant of the genus Vicia
Galician: nichela — plant of the genus Vicia
Galician: brenza — plant of the genus Vicia
Georgian: ცერცველა (cercvela) — plant of the genus Vicia
German: Wicke — plant of the genus Vicia
Greek: αρακάς (arakás) — plant of the genus Vicia
Ancient Greek: ἀφάκη (aphákē) — plant of the genus Vicia
Ancient Greek: βῐκία (bĭkía) — plant of the genus Vicia
Ancient Greek: βῐκίον (bĭkíon) — plant of the genus Vicia
Hebrew: כַּרְשִׁינָה — plant of the genus Vicia
Hungarian: bükköny — plant of the genus Vicia
Italian: veccia — plant of the genus Vicia
Japanese: 烏野豌豆 (karasunoendō) — plant of the genus Vicia
Japanese: 矢筈豌豆 (yahazu endō) — plant of the genus Vicia
Latin: ervum — plant of the genus Vicia
Latin: vicia — plant of the genus Vicia
Lithuanian: vikis — plant of the genus Vicia
Middle English: fecche — plant of the genus Vicia
Norman: vèche — plant of the genus Vicia
Occitan: veça — plant of the genus Vicia
Persian: ماش (mâš) — plant of the genus Vicia
Piedmontese: vëssa — plant of the genus Vicia
Plautdietsch: Wekj — plant of the genus Vicia
Polish: wyka — plant of the genus Vicia
Portuguese: ervilhaca — plant of the genus Vicia
Romanian: măzăriche — plant of the genus Vicia
Russian: ви́ка (víka) — plant of the genus Vicia
Russian: горо́шек (goróšek) — plant of the genus Vicia
Serbo-Croatian: гра̏хорица — plant of the genus Vicia
Serbo-Croatian: грашица — plant of the genus Vicia
Serbo-Croatian: гра̏хор — plant of the genus Vicia
Serbo-Croatian: гра̏хорина — plant of the genus Vicia
Serbo-Croatian: гра̏хорика — plant of the genus Vicia
Serbo-Croatian: grȁhorica — plant of the genus Vicia
Serbo-Croatian: grašica — plant of the genus Vicia
Serbo-Croatian: grȁhor — plant of the genus Vicia
Serbo-Croatian: grȁhorina — plant of the genus Vicia
Serbo-Croatian: grȁhorika — plant of the genus Vicia
Slovak: vika — plant of the genus Vicia
Slovene: grášica — plant of the genus Vicia
Slovene: gráhor — plant of the genus Vicia
Spanish: veza — plant of the genus Vicia
Spanish: arveja — plant of the genus Vicia
Swedish: vicker — plant of the genus Vicia
Turkish: fiğ — plant of the genus Vicia
Ottoman Turkish: بورچاق (burçak) — plant of the genus Vicia

Word forms

Inflections and variants

vetches — plural
fitch — alternative

Word family

Derived and related words

Derived: American vetch, bard vetch, Bithynian vetch, bitter vetch, blister vetch, black vetch, bush vetch, Carolina wood vetch, chickling vetch, common vetch, cow vetch, deervetch, fine-leaved vetch, fodder vetch, French vetch, garden vetch, giant vetch, hairy vetch(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace {{vern}} with a regular link if already defined. Add novern=1 if not defined.), Hawaiian vetch, horseshoe vetch, Hungarian vetch, Kashubian vetch, kidney vetch, mat vetch, milkvetch, narrow-leaved vetch, pea-flowered vetch, poisonvetch, purple vetch, pygmyflower vetch, single-flowered vetch, slender vetch(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace {{vern}} with a regular link if already defined. Add novern=1 if not defined.), smooth vetch(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace {{vern}} with a regular link if already defined. Add novern=1 if not defined.), spring vetch, tufted vetch, upright vetch, vetchling, vetchy, winter vetch, wood bitter-vetch, wood vetch, yellow vetch

Related: none provided

Semantic map

Other relationships

Hypernyms: legume, leguminous plant

Hyponyms: tare, tufted vetch, bird vetch, Calnada pea, Vicia cracca, bitter betch, Vicia orobus, spring vetch, Vicia sativa, bush vetch, Vicia sepium

Holonyms: Vicia, genus Vicia

Sources

Where this information comes from

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