The English word lentil traces back to the Latin word lens, the classical Roman term for the plant. That Latin word may also be the origin of the prominent Roman family name Lentulus, following the same pattern by which the family name Cicero derived from the chickpea and Fabia from the fava bean. The optical lens takes its name from the same source, the shape of a lens being reminiscent of a lentil seed.

The lentil, known botanically as Vicia lens or Lens culinaris, is an annual legume cultivated for its lens-shaped edible seeds. The plant grows to roughly 40 centimeters in height, and its seeds develop in pods that typically contain two seeds each.

Lentils are eaten around the world and appear most commonly in soups and stews. In the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent, where lentils are a dietary staple, split lentils with their hulls removed are known as dal and are typically prepared as a thick curry served alongside rice or roti.

Lentils are self-pollinating. Their flowers open starting from the lowest buds and progress upward along the stem, a pattern called acropetal flowering. All the flowers on a single branch take roughly two weeks to open in sequence. By the end of the second day after opening, the flowers begin to close, and the color starts to fade. Pod formation follows three to four days later.

Canada produces more lentils than any other country, and 2025 is expected to set a production record there. India and Australia rank next among the major producers, with India accounting for approximately one fifth of global output. Other significant lentil-growing countries include the United States, Nepal, China, Russia, and Ethiopia. It is worth noting that the largest producers are not necessarily the largest exporters. India, for instance, consumes the majority of what it grows domestically rather than sending it to international markets.

The wild ancestor of cultivated lentils is most closely identified as Lens orientalis, though other wild varieties may have contributed genetic material as well, according to Jonathan D. Sauer’s Historical Geography of Crop Plants. Cultivated lentils differ from their wild relatives in having pods that do not split open on their own and seeds that germinate without a dormancy period.

Lentils were first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East and subsequently spread to Europe, North Africa, and the Indo-Gangetic plain. The Middle East is considered the primary center of diversity for both the domesticated species and its wild progenitor. The oldest known carbonized lentil remains come from Franchthi Cave in Greece and date to around 11,000 BCE. Remains have also been recovered from sites across Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Iran, and Greece, spanning from roughly 6250 to 5000 BCE. Lentils appear in the ancient Israelite diet as well, consumed roasted or as soup and stew, with references in multiple biblical passages. Archaeological work at Tel Beit Shemesh has turned up lentil remains from the Iron Age.

Lentils carry symbolic and spiritual significance across several of the world’s major religions. In Judaism and Christianity they are most familiar from the biblical account in which Esau trades his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew. They also have a traditional role as mourning food, their round shape associated with silence and the cycle of grief. In Islam, the Quran mentions lentils as one of the foods the Israelites longed for during their time in the desert. In Hinduism, lentils are considered sacred and used in religious offerings. This long history of religious and cultural association has kept lentils a common choice during fasting periods, particularly in Orthodox Christian traditions.

Unlike most legumes, lentils require no soaking and can be fully cooked in as little as fifteen to thirty minutes, making them among the fastest-cooking plant-based protein sources available.

A single cup of cooked lentils provides roughly thirty-seven percent of the recommended daily iron intake, which exceeds what the same number of calories from beef would deliver. Their iron absorption is also enhanced when paired with foods containing vitamin C.

In ancient Egypt and Rome, lentils were considered valuable enough to function as a medium of exchange, traded as a form of a crude de facto currency or offered as gifts at funerary ceremonies.