lack

Meanings

Noun

• A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want.
• A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.

Verb

• To be without, to need, to require.
• To be short (of or for something).
• To be in want.
• To see the deficiency in (someone or something); to find fault with, to malign, reproach.

Origin

• Middle English, cognate with or from Middle Low German lak, Middle Dutch lac ("deficiency") and Middle Dutch laken ("blame, lack"); all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *laka-, related to *lak(k)ōn-, from Proto-Indo-European *lok-néh₂-. See also Dutch lak ("calumny"), Old Norse lakr ("lacking").