Etymograph

English

lack

Lack comes from Middle English lack, from Old English *læc ‘deficiency’, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *lakaz ‘limp, slack’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lakaz1‘limp’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*laką1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lak1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*læc1‘deficiency’reconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lack1
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598lack1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English lack
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “[…] let his lack of years be no impediment…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lakazWiktionary, English lack‘limp’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lakąWiktionary, English lackreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lakWiktionary, English lackreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*læcWiktionary, English lack‘deficiency’reconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lackWiktionary, English lack
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598lackWiktionary, English lack. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “[…] let his lack of years be no impediment…”

The story

Related also to Middle Dutch laken (‘to blame, lack’). Eclipsed non-native Middle English carence (‘absence, lack’), from Old French carence.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with lack, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Old English *læc ‘deficiency, lack, want’

Explore everything descended from *lakaz →

Another origin of lack

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lok-néh₂-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lak(k)ōną‘to reproach, blame, be lacking’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lak(k)ōn‘to blame, be lacking’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150læccian
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lacken
  6. Englishtodaylack

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Today it means

noun A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want, dearth.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “lack”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *lakaz / lack