latke

Etymology

It is borrowed from Yiddish לאַטקע (latke),^[2][3][4][1] from an East Slavic language:^[2][5] compare Russian латка (latka, “pastry”), regional Russian also “ladka”, and Ukrainian оладка (oladka, “pancake, fritter”).^[2][4][3] The OED takes “ladka” as a shortening of “oladka”, from an Old Russian word for the same pancake recorded from the 15th century,^[2][4] which is from Koine Greek ἐλᾴδιον (eláidion, “olive oil; oil cake”),^[2][4][6] a diminutive of Ancient Greek ἔλαιον (élaion, “olive oil”),^[2][6] the word related to olive.^[6][4] Etymonline says the Russian word is said to mean literally "a patch",^[3] and the Shorter Oxford takes it from Russian latka in the sense of an earthenware cooking pot, or a dish cooked in one.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small fried pancake, usually of grated potato: 1909, in the Reform Advocate.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1925, in American English,^[3] Merriam-Webster to 1927,^[4] and Dictionary.com to 1925–30.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The Yiddish word reached American English,^[3][2] keeping the sense of the East Slavic words, a small fried pancake.^[2] In English it is used above all of potato pancakes fried in oil in Jewish cookery,^[8][7] which are traditionally eaten at Hanukkah.^[1]

Timeline

• 1909 – a fried potato pancake, in the Reform Advocate.^[2] Etymonline dates it to 1925.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. In Jewish cookery, a small fried pancake, especially one of grated raw potato: She fried a dozen latkes for the Hanukkah party.^[4][2][8]

Related words

• olive

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins