lentil

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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛntəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛntəl
• Hyphenation: len‧til

lentil (plural lentils)

2. Any of several plants of the genus Lens, especially Lens culinaris, from southwest Asia, that have edible, lens-shaped seeds within flattened pods.
3. The seed of these plants, used as food.

   make a lentil stew

   a lentil salad

   • 2017 July 12, Sanjiv Khamgaonkar, “40 Mumbai foods we can’t live without”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     A couple of vegetables, sambar (spicy and sour lentils and vegetables boiled with masalas and spices), rasam (a hot and fiery lentil soup-like dish) and curds (yoghurt) served with heaps of rice and eaten in that order. A non-vegetarian version of the “meals” can be found in “Military” hotels.

   • 2022 November 22, Katie Hunt, “Neanderthals cooked meals with pulses 70,000 years ago”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     Wild nuts, peas, vetch, a legume which had edible seed pods, and grasses were often combined with pulses like beans or lentils, the most commonly identified ingredient, and at times, wild mustard. To make the plants more palatable, pulses, which have a naturally bitter taste, were soaked, coarsely ground or pounded with stones to remove their husk.

• lens
• lenticular

• split pea

• Lintel, lintel, tellin, tellin'

lentil

1. alternative form of lentile