lack
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /læk/Category:English 1-syllable words#LACKCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#LACK
Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#LACKAudio (General American): (file)
Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#LACKAudio (Southern England): (file) - Homophone: lakh (one pronunciation)Category:English terms with homophones#LACK
- Rhymes: -ækCategory:Rhymes:English/æk#LACKCategory:Rhymes:English/æk/1 syllable#LACK
Etymology 1
From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#LACKCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#LACK lack, lakke, lak, from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#LACKCategory:English terms derived from Old English#LACK *læc (“deficiency, lack, want”), from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#LACKCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#LACK *lak, from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#LACKCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#LACK *laką, *lakaz (“slackness”), from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#LACK *lakaz (“limp, slack, loose, low”), related to *lak(k)ōną (“to blame, reproach”), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#LACK *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.
Noun
lack (countable and uncountable, plural lacks)Category:English lemmas#LACKCategory:English nouns#LACKCategory:English uncountable nouns#LACKCategory:English countable nouns#LACKCategory:English countable nouns#LACKCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LACKCategory:Pages with entries#LACKCategory:Pages with 3 entries#LACK
- A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want, dearth.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
- […] let his lack of years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend estimation;Category:English terms with quotations#LACK
- 1994, Green Day, “Basket Case”:
- I went to a shrink, to analyze my dreams. He said it's lack of sex that's bringing me down.Category:English terms with quotations#LACK
- 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport:
- If Moldova harboured even the slightest hopes of pulling off a comeback that would have bordered on miraculous given their lack of quality, they were snuffed out 13 minutes before the break when Oxlade-Chamberlain picked his way through midfield before releasing Defoe for a finish that should have been dealt with more convincingly by Namasco at his near post.Category:English terms with quotations#LACK
- 2022 January 12, Tom Allett, “Network News: MPs concerned at Treasury's influence on rail industry”, in RAIL, number 948, page 13:
- More flak was aimed at the Treasury's apparent lack of marketing skills, when it was argued that its idea of how to sell tickets was along the lines of "you can get two tickets for the price of two", and it lacks the sales and promotional skills of the train operating companies which are needed to boost revenue.Category:English terms with quotations#LACK
- (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#LACK) A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.Category:English terms with quotations#LACK
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#LACKCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#LACK lacken, lakken, laken, from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#LACKCategory:English terms derived from Old English#LACK læccian, *lacian (“to blame, criticise, lack”), from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#LACKCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#LACK *lak(k)ōn (“to blame, be lacking”), from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#LACKCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#LACK *lak(k)ōną (“to reproach, blame, be lacking”), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#LACK *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”).
Verb
lack (third-person singular simple present lacks, present participle lacking, simple past and past participle lacked)Category:English lemmas#LACKCategory:English verbs#LACKCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LACKCategory:Pages with entries#LACKCategory:Pages with 3 entries#LACK
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#LACK, stativeCategory:English stative verbs#LACK) To be without, not to have, to need, to require.
- My life lacks excitement.Category:English terms with usage examples#LACK
- 2022 January 12, Tom Allett, “Network News: MPs concerned at Treasury's influence on rail industry”, in RAIL, number 948, page 13:
- More flak was aimed at the Treasury's apparent lack of marketing skills, when it was argued that its idea of how to sell tickets was along the lines of "you can get two tickets for the price of two", and it lacks the sales and promotional skills of the train operating companies which are needed to boost revenue.Category:English terms with quotations#LACK
- (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#LACK) To be short (of or for something).
- He'll never lack for company while he's got all that money.Category:English terms with usage examples#LACK
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:
- Hamlet. What hour now?Category:English terms with quotations#LACK
Horatio. I think it lacks of twelve.
- (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#LACK, obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#LACK) To be in want.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 34:10:
- The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger […]Category:English terms with quotations#LACK
- (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#LACK) To see the deficiency in (someone or something); to find fault with, to malign, reproach.
- c. 1378-9, [William Langland], “[Passus II]”, in The Vision of Pierce Plowman [...] (Cr, B-text), London: […] Roberte Crowley, […], published 1550, →OCLC:
- That is Mede þe Mayde quod she · hath noyed me ful oft / And ylakked my lemman.Category:Middle English terms with quotations#LACKCategory:Requests for translations of Middle English quotations#LACK
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (African-American VernacularCategory:African-American Vernacular English#LACK) To be off one's guard.
- His opps caught him lacking.Category:English terms with usage examples#LACK
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
Etymology 3
Noun
lack (plural lacks)Category:English lemmas#LACKCategory:English nouns#LACKCategory:English countable nouns#LACKCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#LACKCategory:Pages with entries#LACKCategory:Pages with 3 entries#LACK
- Archaic form of lakhCategory:English archaic forms#LACK.
- a lack of rupees
Further reading
- Kroonen, Guus (2013), “lak(k)on-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 325
See also
Anagrams
German
Pronunciation
Verb
lackCategory:German non-lemma forms#LACKCategory:German verb forms#LACKCategory:German entries with incorrect language header#LACKCategory:Pages with entries#LACKCategory:Pages with 3 entries#LACK
Swedish
Etymology
From FrenchCategory:Swedish terms borrowed from French#LACKCategory:Swedish terms derived from French#LACK lacre (“sealing wax”), from PortugueseCategory:Swedish terms derived from Portuguese#LACK laca.
Noun
lack nCategory:Swedish lemmas#LACKCategory:Swedish nouns#LACKCategory:Swedish entries with incorrect language header#LACKCategory:Swedish neuter nouns#LACKCategory:Pages with entries#LACKCategory:Pages with 3 entries#LACK
- varnish, lacquer
- 1980, “Sommarnatt [Summer night]”, in Lars "Dille" Diedricson, Torben Ferm (music), Sommarnatt, performed by Snowstorm:
- Rosa lack och kromad list i '59 års modell. Jag öser på för fullt i stan som en 50-talsrebell. Jag sveper över landsvägar, ja, jag sveper genom natten. Och tar det coolt till Clarions sound, med en säker hand på ratten.Category:Swedish terms with quotations#LACK
- Pink lacquer and chrome trim [chromed strip] of model year '59. I go full out / step on it [ösa = do something (implied from context) in a fast or intense manner] in the city like a 50s rebel. I sweep across roads [main road, usually smaller than a highway], yes, I sweep through the night. And take it cool to Clarion's sound, with a steady hand on the wheel.
Declension
| nominative | genitive | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| singular | indefinite | lack | lacks |
| definite | lacket | lackets | |
| plural | indefinite | lacker | lackers |
| definite | lackerna | lackernas |
Derived terms
Related terms
Adjective
lack (comparative mer lack, superlative mest lack)Category:Swedish lemmas#LACKCategory:Swedish adjectives#LACKCategory:Swedish entries with incorrect language header#LACKCategory:Pages with entries#LACKCategory:Pages with 3 entries#LACK
- (colloquialCategory:Swedish colloquialisms#LACK) angry
- Jag blir lack på honom
- I get angry at him
See also
References
- “lack”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
- “lack”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
- “lack”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)