lack English · revision 2682

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1200|origins=dum lak}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /læk/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|lak]], lakke,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) of uncertain origin and not found in Old English.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) It may continue an unrecorded Old English *lac, or be [[bor|dum|lak|t=deficiency, fault]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) which may in any case have reinforced the Middle English word.^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998) Either way it goes back to [[gem-pro|*lakaz]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) the source also of Middle Low German lak “lack, fault”, Old Frisian lek “disadvantage, damage” and Old Norse lakr “lacking, defective”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) Watkins takes it to [[ine-pro|*leg-|t=to dribble, trickle]], the source of [[leak]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) while Barnhart compares Latin laxus “loose”, the source of [[lax]].^(Barnhart 1988) The verb is probably from the noun,^(Barnhart 1988) perhaps from Middle Dutch laken “to be wanting; to blame”.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The noun, “a defect, fault”: about 1200 in the OED,^(OED 1989) before 1300 in Barnhart;^(Barnhart 1988) the verb, “to be wanting”, is from the late 12th century^(Etymonline) or before 1225.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In its earliest uses the noun meant a moral failing or fault, and in Scots a disgrace,^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986) and the verb meant also “to blame, disparage”, a sense that survived in Scots and English dialect.^(Hoad 1986)^(Wright 1898) The sense “deficiency, want” is from about 1300^(Etymonline) or about 1398 in the OED,^(OED 1989) and the transitive verb, “to be without”, from the early 13th century.^(Etymonline) Middle English also had lackless, “without blame or fault”.^(Etymonline) ''No lack of'', “plenty of”, is from about 1305, while ''for lack of'' dates from about 1386.^(OED 1989) ''Lacklustre'' is from Shakespeare's ''As You Like It'' (1600).^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * late 12th century – verb, to be wanting.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1200 – noun, a fault.^(OED 1989)

+ * early 13th century – verb, to be without.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1300 – noun, a shortage.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1386 – ''for lack of''.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1600 – ''lacklustre''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The state of being without or not having enough of something; [[shortage]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Something that is needed or wanted.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To be without, or have too little of.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To be missing or [[deficient]]: ''what is lacking is money''.^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[alack]]

+ * [[lacklustre]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lackluster]]

+ * [[lacking]]

+ * [[leak]]

+ * [[lax]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The Century Dictionary noted that to lack is to be without some one thing, generally desirable but not necessarily important.^(Etymonline) The exclamation ''good lack!'' is a shortening of [[alack]].^(SOED 2002)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}