lake
Plurallakes
Plurallakes
- 1A large stretch of water, or a similar liquid, enclosed by surrounding land.
Boats drifted lazily across the calm lake at sunset.
Several mountain lakes feed the river downstream.
UsageMost names take no the: Lake Geneva, Seneca Lake. You swim in a lake and sail on it.
Similarloch
- 2
- 3An insoluble pigment made by fixing a soluble dye onto a metallic or mineral base, such as the crimson lakes of painting or the lake colorings used in food.
Renaissance painters prized crimson lake for its glowing red, despite its tendency to fade.
The dyer prepared a fresh batch of lake from crushed cochineal insects.
Note
The painter's red reached English from the East. It came through French laque, from Persian lâk, from Hindi lākh and Sanskrit lākṣā, which makes it a doublet of lac and lacquer. The pigment is often named for its source, like the Indian lake in Thomas Pynchon's Mason & Dixon (1997). It also served as a livery color: the North British Railway painted its coaches lake, though Basil Bazley noted in 1954 that it wore poorly.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- The pigment word came through French laque from Persian, Hindi and Sanskrit, and shares its origin with lac and lacquer. en.wiktionary.org
- Lake pigments can be named for their source; Indian lake derives from Indian lac. gutenberg.org
- Thomas Pynchon wrote Mason & Dixon, first published in 1997. en.wikipedia.org
- Indian lake appears among the pigments in Mason & Dixon. en.wiktionary.org
- The North British Railway used lake for its coaches, and Basil Bazley reported its poor wearing qualities in 1954. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 4A pit, or a ditch dug into the ground.
Note
This meaning has dropped out of the language, so it turns up only in older writing. It sits close to the "drain" sense, since both describe a cut or hollow in the ground. That sense still lives on in dialect, but this one does not. In modern prose, write pit or ditch, or a reader will picture water.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The pit or ditch sense is obsolete; its meaning overlaps with the drain sense through the idea of a ground hollow or channel. en.wiktionary.org
- 5An offering, sacrifice, or gift presented to another.
Note
An old word for something offered up, whether a sacrifice or a gift, and long out of use. It descends from Old English lāc, whose meanings ran from sacrifice and present to play, strife and booty, which is why the same spelling also carried the 'play and sport' meaning. It is unrelated to the body of water, which continues Old English lacu, conflated with French lac, probably from Latin lacus. A modern reader will hear only the water, so offering serves better today.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Lake is an obsolete noun meaning an offering, sacrifice or gift. en.wiktionary.org
- The noun descends from Old English lāc, which had the listed meanings. gutenberg.org
- Lake also has a play-and-sport sense belonging to the same historical word. en.wiktionary.org
- The offering word and the body-of-water word have separate origins. en.wiktionary.org
- This omits the native ancestry: the water word continues Old English lacu, conflated with Old French lac, probably from Latin lacus. en.wikipedia.org
- 6To present an offering, especially as an act of worship.
Note
The verb partner of the "offering" noun is just as obsolete. You will meet it only in older texts. Anyone writing about ritual today uses offer or sacrifice instead, because an unexplained lake in modern prose would simply be read as water.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Lake also has an obsolete verb sense meaning to present an offering. en.wiktionary.org
- 7A kind of fine, white linen cloth of delicate weave.
Note
A separate Germanic word for cloth lies behind this sense: Proto-Germanic *lakaną, "linen; cloth; sheet." Its cognates are Dutch laken (a bedsheet), German Laken, Danish lagen, Swedish lakan and Icelandic lak. English let the word go, so this sense is obsolete. In modern writing about fabric, say fine linen instead.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 7 facts
- The cloth sense derives from a separate Proto-Germanic word, *lakaną, meaning linen, cloth or sheet. en.wiktionary.org
- Dutch laken belongs to the same etymological family and means a bedsheet. en.wiktionary.org
- German Laken belongs to the same etymological family. en.wiktionary.org
- Danish lagen belongs to the same etymological family. en.wiktionary.org
- Swedish lakan belongs to the same etymological family. en.wiktionary.org
- Icelandic lak belongs to the same etymological family. en.wiktionary.org
- The English cloth sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
- 8Of blood, to undergo or cause hemolysis, so that the red cells release their hemoglobin into the plasma, as by freezing and thawing or adding water.
- 9To dye or stain something the crimson-red color of lake pigment.
- 10A small running stream, or a channel or drain made to carry water.
- 11Play, sport, or games, and the merry glee that goes along with them.
- 12To leap or jump, to exert oneself, or to play.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
This word arose from a blending of two Middle English forms: 'lake' (a small stream, pool, or lake), inherited from Old English 'lacu' and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *lakō, and 'lac' (lake), from Old French 'lac' or Latin 'lacus' (lake, basin). Despite the similarity, the inherited Old English 'lacu' is not related to Latin 'lacus'.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- The water word arose through conflation of Middle English lake and lac. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English lake had waterway and standing-water senses and descends from Old English lacu. en.wikipedia.org
- Old English lacu ultimately descends from Proto-Germanic *lakō. en.wiktionary.org
- The borrowed strand comes from Old French lac or Latin lacus. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin lacus means lake or basin. en.wiktionary.org
- The inherited Germanic word represented by Old English lacu is etymologically unrelated to Latin lacus. iecor.clld.org
From Northern Middle English 'lake', from Old English 'lac' (play, sport, battle, sacrifice, gift), from Proto-Germanic *laikaz (game, dance, sport), from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (to bounce, shake, tremble). It is cognate with Old Norse 'leikr' and Gothic 'laiks' (dance), and is a doublet of 'lek'.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 7 facts
- The play or sport homonym lake comes from Northern Middle English lake. en.wiktionary.org
- Its Old English ancestor lac meant play, sport, battle, sacrifice and gift. en.wiktionary.org
- It descends from Proto-Germanic *laikaz, meaning game, dance or sport. en.wiktionary.org
- The ultimate root is Proto-Indo-European *leyg-, meaning to bounce, shake or tremble. en.wiktionary.org
- Old Norse leikr and Gothic laiks are cognates. en.wiktionary.org
- Gothic laiks meant dance. en.wiktionary.org
- This lake is a doublet of lek. en.wiktionary.org
Proto-Germanic *lakaną (linen, cloth, sheet) gave both Old English *lacen and Middle Dutch laken, and one of these became Middle English lake. Dutch laken (linen, bedsheet) and German Laken are cognates.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Proto-Germanic *lakaną meant linen, cloth or sheet and gave rise to Old English *lacen and Middle Dutch laken, either of which may be the source of Middle English lake. en.wiktionary.org
- Dutch laken means linen or bedsheet. en.wiktionary.org
- Dutch laken and German Laken belong to the same cognate family as English lake. en.wiktionary.org
Sanskrit lākṣā passed through Hindi lākh and Persian lâk to French laque (lacquer), the source of the English word. Lac and lacquer come from the same origin, which makes them doublets.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- English lake, in its pigment sense, derives from French laque (‘lacquer’), ultimately from Sanskrit lākṣā through Hindi lākh and Persian lâk. en.wiktionary.org
- Lac and lacquer share an etymological origin and are doublets. en.wiktionary.org