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Added 8 October 2026

lake

/leɪk/ noun

In Latin: lacus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about lake at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A large, landlocked stretch of water or similar liquid.
A large amount of liquid.
a lake of wine
A small stream of running water; a channel for water; a drain.

noun

An offering, sacrifice, gift.
Play; sport; game; fun; glee.

verb

To present an offering.
To leap, jump, exert oneself; to play.
To subject biological cells to repeated cycles of freezing and thawing until lysis.

noun

A kind of fine, white linen.

Origin

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).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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