12-letter words containing l, e, k, s
- jungle books — a series of jungle stories in two volumes (1894, 1895) by Rudyard Kipling.
- kaleidoscope — an optical instrument in which bits of glass, held loosely at the end of a rotating tube, are shown in continually changing symmetrical forms by reflection in two or more mirrors set at angles to each other.
- kelvin scale — William Thomson, 1st Baron, 1824–1907, English physicist and mathematician.
- kepler's law — any one of three laws governing planetary motion: each planet revolves in an ellipse, with the sun at one focus; the line connecting a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal periods of time (law of areas) or the square of the period of revolution of each planet is proportional to the cube of the semimajor axis of the planet's orbit (harmonic law)
- keratoplasty — plastic surgery performed upon the cornea, especially a corneal transplantation.
- kernel style — K&R style
- kick oneself — regret sth
- kill oneself — to overexert oneself
- kilocalories — Plural form of kilocalorie.
- kindred soul — like-minded person
- kinetoplasts — Plural form of kinetoplast.
- kiss of life — medicine
- kitchen salt — coarse salt that is used in cooking but not at the table
- kletterschuh — a lightweight climbing boot with a canvas or suede upper and Vibram (originally felt or cord) sole
- klipspringer — a small, agile African antelope, Oreotragus oreotragus, of mountainous regions from the Cape of Good Hope to Ethiopia.
- knee-slapper — a joke evoking boisterous hilarity.
- kneeling bus — a bus that can lower its body or entrance door to facilitate boarding by the elderly or people with disabilities.
- knightliness — Knightly behaviour; chivalry.
- knowableness — the quality of being knowable
- knuckleballs — Plural form of knuckleball.
- knucklebones — (in humans) any of the bones forming a knuckle of a finger.
- knuckleheads — Plural form of knucklehead.
- kosher-style — (of a cuisine, restaurant, etc.) featuring traditional Jewish dishes, but not adhering to the dietary laws: kosher-style cooking.
- ladylikeness — Ladylike behaviour.
- lake charles — a city in SW Louisiana.
- lake jackson — a town in S Texas.
- lake station — a town in NW Indiana.
- lake success — a town on Long Island, in SE New York: temporary United Nations headquarters 1946–51.
- lake torrens — a shallow salt lake in E central South Australia, about 8 m (25 ft) below sea level. Area: 5776 sq km (2230 sq miles)
- lansker line — (in Pembrokeshire) the linguistic and ethnic division between the Welsh-speaking north and the English-speaking south
- lawbreakings — Plural form of lawbreaking.
- leatherbacks — Plural form of leatherback.
- leathernecks — Plural form of leatherneck.
- leon trotsky — Leon (Lev or Leib, Davidovich Bronstein) 1879–1940, Russian revolutionary and writer: minister of war 1918–25.
- lepenski vir — the site of an advanced Mesolithic fishing culture on the banks of the Danube in Serbia, characterized by trapezoidal buildings and large stone sculptures of human heads and torsos.
- lesser-known — less widely known; less famous
- letter stock — unregistered stock sold privately by a company so as not to have a negative effect on the price of its publicly traded stock.
- leukocytosis — an increase in the number of white blood cells in the blood.
- leukopedesis — an outward flow of white blood cells through a blood-vessel wall.
- leukopoiesis — the formation and development of white blood cells.
- leukotrienes — Plural form of leukotriene.
- lickspittles — Plural form of lickspittle.
- lifelikeness — Quality of being lifelike.
- likeableness — Likeability.
- likely story — dubious account
- linen basket — a basket or container with a lid in which you put your dirty clothes before washing them
- linked verse — a Japanese verse form in which stanzas of three lines alternating with stanzas of two lines are composed by two or more poets in alternation.
- linseed cake — a cake or a mass made by expressing the oil from linseed, used chiefly as feed for cattle.
- look askance — glance sidelong or with suspicion
- look daggers — to turn one's eyes toward something or in some direction in order to see: He looked toward the western horizon and saw the returning planes.