alack

Etymology

It is probably formed from English ah + lack (“loss, fault, shame”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} on the model of alas.^[7][3][8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives the Middle English form as alacke,^[4] and Skeat took the second element in its Middle English sense of loss, failure, fault, reproach or shame,^[9][10] holding that the word cannot be the same as alas.^[10] The second element is perhaps Old English; the Middle English Dictionary compares Middle Dutch lac, Middle Low German lak, Old Frisian lek and Old Norse lakr,^[11] and the Merriam-Webster word histories derive it from the Middle Dutch word.^[12] Johnson took alack for a corruption of alas,^[13] and Weekley for an arbitrary alteration of it, made by association with lack in its older sense of failure or shame.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Used to express grief, condemnation, pity, regret, concern or surprise: 1447, in a letter in the papers of John Shillingford.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the mid-15th century,^[9] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to the 15th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

According to the OED as Etymonline reports it, the word first expressed dissatisfaction and later regret or unpleasant surprise,^[9][8] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged notes that it formerly also expressed reproach.^[4] The phrase alack the day, modelled on alas the day, is recorded from 1565,^[2] and it was used by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet ("alack the day!") and in Richard II.^[15] From alack-a-day came lackaday and then lackadaisical.^[14][8][12] Johnson (1755) glossed it simply as "alas; an expression of sorrow", quoting Shakespeare and Swift.^[13] In standard English it is now archaic or poetic,^[16][4][3] but Wright recorded it, also spelled alake, in Scotland, northern England, Yorkshire and Somerset, and Burns and Ramsay used the Scots form;^[15] in west Somerset alack-a-day was said, while alas and alas-a-day were not heard.^[15]

Timeline

• 1447 – an exclamation of grief, pity, regret or surprise.^[2]
• 1565 – alack the day, of grief at the events of a particular day.^[2]

Meanings

Interjection

1. (archaic) Used to express sorrow, regret or dismay; alas: Alack, the letter never came.^[16][4][2]
2. alack the day, alack-a-day: the same, at first of grief at the events of a particular day, later of general surprise or dismay.^[2][3]

Word family

• alackaday

Related words

• alas
• lack
• lackadaisical
• ah

Usage notes

The OED also records an adjective alack, lacking, missing or amiss, formed from the preposition a and lack like amiss, in Skelton's Magnyfycence (before 1529).^[2]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
12. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins