English
lakh
Lakh comes from Sanskrit लक्ष ‘a mark, sign, token’, and goes back to लक्ष्.
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEलक्ष्lakṣ‘to mark’
- Sanskrit, derivedc. 1500–500 BCEलक्षlakṣa‘a mark, sign, token’
- Englishearliest quotation 1613lakh
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEलक्ष्lakṣ‘to mark’
- Sanskrit, derivedc. 1500–500 BCEलक्षlakṣa‘a mark, sign, token’
- Englishearliest quotation 1613lakh
Earliest quotation: 1613, Samuel Purchas, [Asia.] Of the Great Mogor.: “They ſay the VVorld ſhall laſt foure Ages; or…”
The story
Borrowed from Hindustani लाख or لاکھ (lākh), from Sanskrit लक्ष (lakṣa), from लक्ष् (lakṣ, “to mark; to sign; to observe, perceive”), possibly from रक्ष् (rakṣ, “to observe (a duty, law, etc.); to guard, protect”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂lek- (‘to protect’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂lek- ‘to protect’
through Sanskrit रक्ष् ‘to observe’
through Sanskrit लक्ष ‘a mark, sign, token’
Today it means
num One hundred thousand (10⁵): 100,000, that is, with Indian digit grouping, 1,00,000.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Sanskrit लक्ष् / lakh