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lac

 [lak]   Origin

lac

1   [lak]
noun
a resinous substance deposited on the twigs of various trees in southern Asia by the female of the lac insect: used in the manufacture of varnishes, sealing wax, etc., and in the production of a red coloring matter. Compare shellac (defs. 1, 2).
Origin:
1545–55; < Hindi lākh ≪ Sanskrit lākṣā

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Lac is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

lac

2   [lahk]
noun
1.
(in India)
2.
the sum of 100,000, especially of rupees. The usual punctuation for sums of Indian money above a lac is with a comma after the number of lacs: Rs. 30,52,000 (i.e., 30 lacs and 52,000) instead of 3,052,000.
3.
an indefinitely large number.
Also, lakh.

Origin:
1605–15; < Hindi lākh ≪ Sanskrit lakṣa

lac

3   [lak]
noun
(in prescriptions) milk.
Origin:
< Latin

LAC

 
leading aircraftsman.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
lac1 (læk)
 
—n
a resinous substance secreted by certain lac insects, used in the manufacture of shellac
 
[C16: from Dutch lak or French laque, from Hindi lākh resin, ultimately from Sanskrit lākshā]

lac2 (lɑːk)
 
—n
a variant spelling of lakh

LAC
 
—abbreviation for
leading aircraftman

lakh or lac (lɑːk)
 
—n
(in India and Pakistan) the number 100 000, esp when referring to this sum of rupees
 
[C17: from Hindi lākh, ultimately from Sanskrit lakshā a sign]
 
lac or lac
 
—n
 
[C17: from Hindi lākh, ultimately from Sanskrit lakshā a sign]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

lac
"red resinous substance," 1553, from Pers. lak, from Hindi lakh (Prakrit lakkha), from Skt. laksha, which according to Klein is lit. "one hundred thousand," in ref. to the insects that gather in great numbers on the trees and make the resin run out. But others say lakh is an alteration of Skt. rakh,
EXPAND
from an IE root word for "color" [Webster]. Still another guess is that Skt. laksha is related to Eng. lax, lox "salmon," and the substance was perhaps originally so called from being somewhat the color of salmon.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

lac (lāk)
n.

  1. Milk.

  2. A whitish, milky looking liquid.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
Abbreviations & Acronyms
LAC

  1. Lacerta (constellation)

  2. LaCrosse encephalitis

  3. large area coverage

  4. local area coverage

The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

lac

sticky, resinous secretion of the tiny lac insect, Laccifer lacca, which is a species of scale insect. This insect deposits lac on the twigs and young branches of several varieties of soapberry and acacia trees and particularly on the sacred fig, Ficus religiosa, in India, Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The lac is harvested predominantly for the production of shellac (q.v.) and lac dye, a red dye widely used in India and other Asian countries. Forms of lac, including shellac, are the only commercial resins of animal origin

Learn more about lac with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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