Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A pancake, especially one made of grated potato.
Wiktionary
- n. A pancake fried in oil, usually made from potatoes and sometimes also onions, traditionally served on Hanukkah.
WordNet 3.0
- n. made of grated potato and egg with a little flour
Etymologies
- From Yiddish לאַטקע (latke), from either Russian латка ("pastry, patch"). (Wiktionary)
- Yiddish, from Ukrainian oladka, from Old Russian, diminutive of olad'ya, from Greek eladia, pl. of eladion, little oily thing, diminutive of elaion, olive oil, from elaiā, olive. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“No matter how you spell it, latke is Yiddish for fried pancakes, typically of the potato variety.”
“There is another variable in latke preparation: oxidation.”
“The word latke derives from Yiddish, the Jewish language spoken by East European Jews.”
Ten Things Tuesday: Chanukah « The Life and Times of Organic Mama
“I think that a latke is a latke is a latke - except perhaps in Lithuania, their homeland, where they're called something else since 94% of the Jewish population was killed 60 years ago.”
“So it was with some skepticism that I approached Ruthie & Gussie's Traditional Potato Pancake (Latke) Batter: how authentic could it be if the word "latke" is in parentheses?”
“If my ancestors decided to choose foods cooked in oil as symbolic of Hanukkah, my foremothers found a winner in the potato pancake or latke which is Yiddish for the delicacy.”
“Being a nice Jewish girl, I'm tempted by a latke cookoff.”
The Huffington Post: Lea Lane: Sailing On The Cheap Aboard A Repositioning Cruise
“Even though my menorah is dedicated to the latke, the symbolic fried food that I make for chanukah comes from my Hungarian roots: langos.”
The Huffington Post: Vivian Reiss: Happy Hanukkah: the Latke Mobile Menorah
“It would make the perfect holder for 8 potatoes for the latke mobile menorah that I decided to create.”
The Huffington Post: Vivian Reiss: Happy Hanukkah: the Latke Mobile Menorah
“I shouldn't harp on the comfort-food angle, but as soon as Mr. Telepan's latke hit my taste buds I had a flashback of being a toddler and given a warm bath by my mother on a cold winter's night.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘latke’.
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Yiddishkeit
There are a few short lists of Yiddish words, but none appropriate to the glory of the language, and none that are open. Thought I'd start one, and would love contributions. I'm tagging as I go, an...
schmuck, nosh, chutzpah, shtick, kvetch, oy vey, oy gevalt, shvitz, shtik, shiksa, putz, mensch and 94 more...
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Behold, The Potato
All things potato. History, foodways and potato recipe names, cultivar or variety names, farming, production, diseases and pests, folklore.
spud, tater, starchy, tuberous, <i>Solanum tubero..., <i>Phytophthora i..., potato blight, late blight, blight, Ireland, Irish potato, lumper and 331 more...
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Hanukkah Words
sufganiyah, latke, gelt, dreidel, Maccabeus, Hallel, Festival of Lights, Feast of Dedication, mitzvah, tzedakah, eight, chanukkiah and 11 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (L)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
labyrinth, lace, lad, lady fingers, lagoon, lamb, lament, lammas, lantern, larkspur, lass, lauds and 92 more...
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Words That Populate My Mind
This is a collection of words I love, old ones that I love the sound of when I repeat them for years and new ones coined in news articles on up and coming trends and technologies - most of them I k...
aroma, mojo, blithely, fringe, fray, synchronicity, doublespeak, buzzword, thoughtcrime, portmanteau, newspeak, oldspeak and 963 more...
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My Students' Favorite Words
These are the most favorite words of my 6th grade wordies.
onomatopoeia, schmootz, latke, riff-raff, ruffian, polkadots, magenta, faerie, nutella, chocolate, hatchet, dumbfounded and 9 more...
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han's list
Interesting words, mostly from The Economist and other newspapers.
sauerkraut, latke, hoi polloi, supplication, belie, sinecure, duplicity, eulogize, gentile, denouement, peaceable, nous and 29 more...
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When I'm in Holland I eat the pannenk...
Pancakes, pancakes, pancakes!
pancake, flapjack, waffle, griddle cake, hotcake, slapjack, johnnycake, bannock, arepa, blini, crepe, dosa and 23 more...
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Winter Food & Drink
What may be partaken during winter holidays.
gingerbread, pfeffernusse, pfefferkuchen, parkin, fruitcake, panforte, stollen, lebkuchen, laufabraud, black bun, hardbake, trifle and 39 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for latke.

treeseed Potato pancakes, latkes or latkas (Yiddish: ל�?ַטקעס), are shallow-fried cakes of grated potato and egg, often flavoured with grated onion. They are a popular food at Hanukkah. Feb 18, 2008