English
lac
Lac comes from Portuguese laca ‘lake’, from Urdu لاکھ ‘lakh, lac’, and ultimately from Sanskrit लक्ष ‘a mark, sign, token’.
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEलक्ष‘a mark, sign, token’
- Sauraseni Prakritmodern𑀮𑀓𑁆𑀔
- Urdumodernلاکھlākh‘lakh, lac’
- Hindic. 1500–presentलाखlākh
- Portuguesec. 1500–presentlaca‘lake’
- Englishearliest quotation 2019lac
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEलक्ष‘a mark, sign, token’
- Sauraseni Prakritmodern𑀮𑀓𑁆𑀔
- Urdumodernلاکھlākh‘lakh, lac’
- Hindic. 1500–presentलाखlākh
- Portuguesec. 1500–presentlaca‘lake’
- Englishearliest quotation 2019lac
Earliest quotation: 2019, Alice Bell, Can science break its plastic addiction?: “At the turn of the century, the ever-expanding electrical…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂lek- ‘to protect’
through Sanskrit रक्ष् ‘to protect, guard, watch, take care of, save,…’
through Sanskrit लक्ष ‘a mark, sign, token’
through Hindi लाख
through Portuguese laca ‘lake’
Today it means
noun A resinous substance or lacquer produced mainly on the banyan tree by the female of Kerria lacca, a scale insect.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Sanskrit लक्ष / lac