Etymologically
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lacquer

Etymology and origin of the English word lacquer

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Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
French lacre

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈlæk.ə/ (UK); /ˈlæk.ɚ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French lacre (“a kind of sealing wax”), now obsolete,[2][3][4] from Portuguese lacre (“sealing wax”),[2][3][4][5][6] an unexplained variant of laca “lac”,[4][5][6] from Arabic لك (lakk),[2][3][4][5][6] from Persian لاک (lāk),[3][4][5][6] which Barnhart traces to Sanskrit लाक्षा (lākṣā).[3] Barnhart says the spelling lacquer was influenced by French laque.[3] It is related to lac and shellac.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A dye obtained from lac, a sense now obsolete (1579, or the 1570s in Etymonline).[7][3][4]

Semantic evolution

From the 1670s the word (spelled lacker) meant a gold-coloured varnish of shellac dissolved in alcohol.[7][3][4] It was then applied to the hard, polishable resin varnishes of Japan, China and other Asian countries (1697)[7] and to the decorated wooden ware coated with them (1895).[7][6] In modern use it means chiefly synthetic coatings, such as nitrocellulose dissolved in solvents (1861),[7][2][5] and also hair spray (1941).[7] The verb, to coat with lacquer, dates from 1688.[7][3][5]

Timeline

  • 1579 – a dye from lac, now obsolete.[7][3]
  • 1592 – Merriam-Webster's date.[5]
  • 1673 – lacker, a shellac varnish.[7][3]
  • 1688 – verb.[7][3][5]
  • 1697 – an Asian resin varnish.[7]
  • 1861 – a synthetic coating.[7]
  • 1941 – a hair spray.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A clear or colored synthetic coating, made from nitrocellulose or other resins dissolved in a volatile solvent, that dries to a glossy film.
  2. A natural glossy resin, such as that of the lacquer tree, used as a surface coating; a varnish.
  3. Decorative objects of wood coated with lacquer.

Verb

  1. To coat with lacquer.
  2. To give a smooth, glossy finish to.

Word family

  • lacquerer
  • lacquerware
  • lacquerwork
  • lac
  • shellac
  • lake

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Lacquer.” Etymologically, 14 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/lacquer. Accessed 14 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·