Lack or lakh?
lack is a noun meaning “A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want…”; lakh is a number meaning “One hundred thousand (10⁵): 100,000, that is, with Indian digit grouping…”. Use lack as a noun and lakh as a number (lakh is also a noun: “One hundred thousand rupees”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) lack is about 48 times as common as lakh.
What is the difference between lack and lakh?
| lack | lakh | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | number, noun |
| Meaning | A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want, dearth To be without, not to have, to need, to require To be short (of or for something) | One hundred thousand (10⁵): 100,000, that is, with Indian digit grouping, 1,00,000 One hundred thousand rupees Often in the plural: an indefinitely large number; a zillion |
| Example | It is a question of money, or lack of same | Holonym: crore |
| Forms | lacks | lakhs |
| Pronunciation | /læk/ | /lɑkʰ/ /lɑk/ /læk/ |
| In writing | 83 times per million words | 1.7 times per million words |
Sources: lack and lakh in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of lack and lakh
lack
- 1
A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want, dearth
It is a question of money, or lack of same
- 2
To be without, not to have, to need, to require
My life lacks excitement
- 3
To be short (of or for something)
He'll never lack for company while he's got all that money
- 4
To be off one's guard
His opps caught him lacking
lakh
- 1
One hundred thousand (10⁵): 100,000, that is, with Indian digit grouping, 1,00,000
Holonym: crore
- 2
One hundred thousand rupees
- 3
Often in the plural: an indefinitely large number; a zillion
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, lack or lakh?
lack appears 83 times per million words; lakh 1.7 times per million words.
lack 83 times per million wordslakh 1.7 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).