# lack

> English word · Noun · IPA /læk/ · frequency rank #1,274

## Definitions
1. A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want, dearth.
2. A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.

## Etymology
From Middle English lack, lakke, lak, from Old English *læc (“deficiency, lack, want”), from Proto-West Germanic *lak, from Proto-Germanic *laką, *lakaz (“slackness”), from Proto-Germanic *lakaz (“limp, slack, loose, low”), related to *lak(k)ōną (“to blame, reproach”), from Proto-Indo-European *lok-néh₂-. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Lak (“lack”), Middle Low German lack, lak (“lack”), Dutch lak (“lack, deficiency, calumny”), Icelandic lakur (“lacking”). Related also to Middle Dutch laken (“to blame, lack”).
Eclipsed non-native Middle English carence (“absence, lack”), from Old French carence.

## Easily confused with
- **LC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lc)
- **law** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-law)
- **lay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lay)
- **las** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-las)
- **lap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lap)
- **lad** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lad)
- **LLC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-llc)
- **lag** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lag)
- **LAN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lan)
- **lax** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lax)
- **LCD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lcd)
- **lam** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lam)
- **lai** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lai)
- **Lao** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lao)
- **Lau** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lau)
- **LOC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-loc)
- **LAT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lat)
- **LCS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lcs)
- **lar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lar)
- **LIC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lack-vs-lic)

## Common misspellings (6)
`alck`, `lacck`, `lackk`, `lakc`, `lcak`, `llack`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/lack