verb / noun
leach
LEECH/liːtʃ/
Removal or loss of soluble substances by liquid passing through a material.
Rainwater leaches valuable nutrients from the soil in your garden.
Etymology
Leach was used for washing or draining by water percolation—the process that carries dissolved substances away. Its proposed connection to Old English leccan, “to moisten or irrigate,” is uncertain.
In context
the lead would leach into the water system and create health hazards
More examples
- Water seeping through the waste can leach chemicals into groundwater.
- Farmers leach excess salts from soil by flushing it with water.
- The lab tests the soil before and after each leach.
Forms
leach · leaches · leached · leaching
leachate noun — Liquid containing substances dissolved from a material.
Similar words
- extract
- Extract covers removal by methods besides dissolving in liquid.
- wash out
- Wash out also covers loose particles, not just dissolved substances.