Etymology

lack

L1A1C3K5

Today it means: A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want, dearth. Full definition →

Middle English lack ← Old English *læc ← Proto-West Germanic *lak
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

lack · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*lok-néh₂-
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*lakaz“limp, slack, loose, low”
  3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*laką
  4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*lak
  5. Old English · inherited from*læc“deficiency, lack, want”
  6. Middle English · inherited fromlack
  7. English todaylack

From Middle English lack, lakke, lak, from Old English *læc (“deficiency, lack, want”), from Proto-West Germanic *lak, from Proto-Germanic *laką, *lakaz (“slackness”), from Proto-Germanic *lakaz (“limp, slack, loose, low”), related to *lak(k)ōną (“to blame, reproach”), from Proto-Indo-European *lok-néh₂-. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Lak (“lack”), Middle Low German lack, lak (“lack”), Dutch lak (“lack, deficiency, calumny”), Icelandic lakur (“lacking”). Related also to Middle Dutch laken (“to blame, lack”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English carence (“absence, lack”), from Old French carence.

lack · verb2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*lok-néh₂-
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*lak(k)ōną“to reproach, blame, be lacking”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*lak(k)ōn“to blame, be lacking”
  4. Old English · inherited fromlæccian
  5. Middle English · inherited fromlacken
  6. English todaylack

From Middle English lacken, lakken, laken, from Old English læccian, *lacian (“to blame, criticise, lack”), from Proto-West Germanic *lak(k)ōn (“to blame, be lacking”), from Proto-Germanic *lak(k)ōną (“to reproach, blame, be lacking”), from Proto-Indo-European *lok-néh₂-. Cognate with Old Frisian lakia, lekia (“to contest, blame”), Middle Low German lacken, laken (“to reproach, blame, criticise”), Middle Dutch laken (“to disapprove, blame, lack”), Dutch laken (“to blame, reproach”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.