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loach

(lōch)

Any of various Eurasian and African freshwater fishes of the family Cobitidae and related families of the order Cypriniformes, having barbels around the mouth.

[Middle English loche, from Old French, possibly from Vulgar Latin *laukka, slug, loach, perhaps from Gaulish *leuca, slug, loach, feminine (attested as a feminine name Leuca), of Gaulish *leucos, bright, light (slugs perhaps originally being so called in reference to their whitish, glistening appearance, while the elongated, mottled body and barbels of Cobitis taenia, a European loach esteemed as a food fish, were later likened to the body and ommatophores of the leopard slug Limax maximus, a large, common slug of Europe); see leuk- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

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Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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