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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

latch.

To close or lock as if with a latch.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/læt͡ʃ/
  1. To close or lock as if with a latch.

  2. To catch; lay hold of.

    transitive
  3. To use a latch (kind of lightweight lock).

  4. To connect to the breast.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English lacchen (“to seize, catch, grasp”, verb), from Old English læċċan (“to grasp, take hold of, catch, seize”), from Proto-Germanic *lakjaną, *lakwijaną, *lakkijaną (“to seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂g-, *(s)leh₂gʷ- (“to take, seize”). Cognate with Middle Dutch lakken (“to grasp, catch”).

noun/læt͡ʃ/
  1. A fastening for a door that has a bar that fits into a notch or slot, and is lifted by a lever or string from either side.

  2. An electronic circuit that is like a flip-flop, except that it is level triggered instead of edge triggered.

  3. A latching.

    obsolete
  4. A crossbow.

    obsolete
  5. That which fastens or holds; a lace; a snare.

    obsolete
  6. A breastfeeding baby's connection to the breast.

  7. A lightweight lock to protect internal structures from being modified by multiple concurrent accesses.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English latche, lacche (“a latch; a trap”), from lacchen (“to seize, catch, grasp”), from Old English læċċan (“to grasp, take hold of, catch, seize”). See above for more.

verb/læt͡ʃ/
  1. To smear; to anoint.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Compare French lécher (“to lick”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.