lac

/læk/

//læk// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"lac" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“lac” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #19,379) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#19,379
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A resinous substance or lacquer produced mainly on the banyan tree by the female of Kerria lacca, a scale insect.

Corpus desk

Index EN-lac · lac · English

lac · rank #19,379 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #19,379
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH labyrinth

Nearest frequency peer: labyrinth (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “lac”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “lac” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

lac vs le
33% similar
lac vs li
33% similar
lac vs Lt
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for lac
PropertyValue
Headwordlac
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/læk/
Letters3
Frequency rank#19,379
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “lac”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).laclands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “labyrinth” (#19,378), “latency” (#19,380), “kyrie” (#19,377). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “lac” is #19,379. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for lac is neighbouring look-alikes ("le", "li", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /læk/. Frequency #19,379 among 2,297 “L” headwords. Gloss: "A resinous substance or lacquer produced mainly on the banyan tree by the female of Kerria lacca, a scale insect.".

Zero misspellings are on record for lac in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "le", "li", "Lt", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Portuguese laca, from Hindi लाख (lākh)/Urdu لاکھ (lākh) or cognates in other Indo-Aryan languages, from Sanskrit लाक्षा (lākṣā). Doublet of lacquer. The correct English form is lac, spelled L-A-C.

Definition

  1. 1
    A resinous substance or lacquer produced mainly on the banyan tree by the female of Kerria lacca, a scale insect.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how lac appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. At the turn of the century, the ever-expanding electrical industry was running low on shellac, a resin secreted by the female lac bug which could be used as an insulating material.

Etymology

From Portuguese laca, from Hindi लाख (lākh)/Urdu لاکھ (lākh) or cognates in other Indo-Aryan languages, from Sanskrit लाक्षा (lākṣā). Doublet of lacquer.

This word in other languages

laca(Español)laque(Français)Lack(Deutsch)laca(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "lac"?
"lac" is spelled L-A-C. The IPA pronunciation is /læk/.
What does "lac" mean?
As a noun, "lac" means: A resinous substance or lacquer produced mainly on the banyan tree by the female of Kerria lacca, a scale insect.
What words are commonly confused with "lac"?
"lac" is commonly confused with "le", "li", "Lt". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "lac"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lac" is /læk/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "lac"?
From Portuguese laca, from Hindi लाख (lākh)/Urdu لاکھ (lākh) or cognates in other Indo-Aryan languages, from Sanskrit लाक्षा (lākṣā). Doublet of lacquer. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lac", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Jax#19,376IPA#19,373NEC#19,399ode#19,402

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list