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Added 2 October 2026

lack

/læk/ noun

In Latin: pēnūria Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about lack at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want, dearth.
It is a question of money, or lack of same.
A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.

verb

To be without, not to have, to need, to require.
My life lacks excitement.
To be short (of or for something).
He'll never lack for company while he's got all that money.
To be in want.

noun

Archaic form of lakh.
a lack of rupees

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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