# lake

> English word · Noun · IPA /leɪk/ · frequency rank #1,564

## Definitions
1. A large, landlocked stretch of water or similar liquid.
2. A large amount of liquid.
3. A small stream of running water; a channel for water; a drain.
4. A pit, or ditch.

## Etymology
Arose from a conflation of
* Middle English lake (“small stream of running water, pool, lake”), from Old English lacu (“stream, pool, pond, lake”), from Proto-West Germanic *laku, from Proto-Germanic *lakō (“stream, pool, body of water", originally "a place where water runs off and collects”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to leak, drain”); with
* Middle English lac (“lake”), from Old French lac (“lake, ditch, pit”), a borrowed term, likely from Latin lacus (“lake, tub, vat”) (see Old French lac for more).
The first element is related to Dutch laak (“stream, drainage ditch, pond”), German Low German Lake, Laak (“drainage, marshland”), German Lache (“puddle, pool”), Norwegian løk (“a deep, slow-moving stream; a widening in a stream or river”), Faroese løkur (“small brook”) and lækja (“water hole, well, watershoot in a brook”), Icelandic lækur (“stream”).
Despite their similarity in form and meaning, Old English lacu is not related to English lay (“lake”), Latin lacus (“hollow, lake, pond”), Scottish Gaelic loch (“lake”), Ancient Greek λάκκος (lákkos, “waterhole, tank, pond, pit”), all from Proto-Indo-European *lókus, *l̥kwés (“lake, pool”).

## Easily confused with
- **le** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-le)
- **law** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-law)
- **lie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lie)
- **lee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lee)
- **lay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lay)
- **las** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-las)
- **lap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lap)
- **LAN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lan)
- **lax** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lax)
- **lam** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lam)
- **Lao** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lao)
- **Lau** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lau)
- **LAT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lat)
- **lar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lar)
- **lye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lye)
- **Luk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-luk)
- **lav** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-lav)
- **like** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-like)
- **life** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-life)
- **last** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/lake-vs-last)

## Common misspellings (5)
`alke`, `laek`, `lakke`, `lkae`, `llake`

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