Houseleek

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A hardy succulent plant with rosettes of fleshy leaves that grows on rooftops, walls and rocky ground
2. A low-growing evergreen succulent whose clustered leaf rosettes thrive in poor soil and on rooftops
3. Any of several stonecrop-like plants in the genus Sempervivum, prized for their fleshy rosettes and tolerance of harsh dry conditions

Etymology: Houseleek is a compound of "house" and "leek," and the "leek" half is the surprise: the plant is not related to the onion-family vegetable that shares the name. The Old English ancestor, probably "hūslēac," joined "hūs" (house) with "lēac," a general word for a plant or herb that was later narrowed to the allium. The same compound turns up across the Germanic languages, as in Dutch "huislook" and German "Hauslauch," so the name predates the separate development of English and its neighbors. The name describes where the plant grows. Houseleeks thrive in thin soil on roofs, walls and rocky ground, and their fleshy rosettes store water, which made them a familiar sight on cottage thatch. Medieval Europeans also believed the plant protected a house from lightning and fire, a belief that probably helped keep it on roofs for centuries.