لک

Persian

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /ˈlak/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [läk]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [läk]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [läk]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [läk]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [lækʰʲ]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [läk]

• Rhymes: -ak

Readings
Classical reading?	lak
Dari reading?	lak
Iranian reading?	lak
Tajik reading?	lak

Etymology 1

Related to the complex of لخت (laxt, “piece, portion”), see it for more.

Noun

لک • (lak)

1. stain or spot

Derived terms

• دل لک زدن (del lak zadan, “to miss, to die for, to strongly want”, literally “for the heart to be stained”)
• لک زدن (lak zadan, “to be stained, to be smudged”)

Etymology 2

Persian numbers ^(edit)

[a], [b] ←  100	[a], [b] ←  10,000	۱۰۰۰۰۰ 100,000	1,000,000 (106)  → [a], [b]
Cardinal: صد هزار (sad hazâr), لک (lak)

Borrowed from Hindustani लाख / لاکھ (lākh) or Punjabi ਲੱਖ (lakkh), from Sanskrit लक्ष (lakṣa).

Numeral

لک • (lak) (Persian numeral ۱۰۰۰۰۰)

1. (Indo-Persian or Dari, money) lakh; hundred thousand
   • 1705, Guru Gobind Singh, “verse 19—20”, in ظفرنامه [Zafarnama]:

     گُرُسْنَه چِه کَارِی کُنَد چِهِل نَر
     کِه دَهْ لَک بَرْآیَد بَر او بی‌خَبَر
     کِه پَیْمَان‌شِکَسْت بی‌دَرَنْگ آمَدَنْد
     مِیَانِ تیغ و تِیر و تُفَنْگ آمَدَنْد

     gurusna či kārī kunad čihil nar
     ki dah lak bar-āyad bar ō bē-xabar
     ki paymān-šikast bē-darang āmadand
     miyān-i tēġ u tīr u tufang āmadand

     What can forty famished men do
     When ten lakh fall upon them without warning?
     For they came suddenly, breaking the oath,
     They came in the midst of blades and arrows and guns.

     (Mughal Persian)

Usage notes

• In Afghanistan, لک is most commonly used in reference to currency, elsewhere صد هزار (sad hazār) tends to be used instead. Though لک could technically be used to count anything, using it to count non-monetary items is uncommon.
• When used in Afghanistan numbers are still grouped by thousands, and the Indian number grouping is never used (so it is written as ۱۰۰٬۰۰۰ (100,000) and never as ۱٬۰۰٬۰۰۰ (1,00,000)). The Indian number grouping may be seen in Mughal Persian, though.

Punjabi

Etymology 1

Inherited from Prakrit *𑀮𑀓𑁆𑀓 (*lakka).

Cognates

Cognate with Saraiki لَکّ (lakk), Sindhi لَڪُ (laku), and Hindi लंक (laṅk) / लाँक (lā̃k). Compare Middle Hindi لنک (lãk, “waist”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Punjabi) IPA^(key): /ləkk/, [lək(ː)]

Noun

لَکّ • (lakk) m (Gurmukhi spelling ਲੱਕ)

1. (anatomy) lower back, lumbar region; hip; loin

Declension

Declension of لک

	singular	plural
direct	لَکّ (lakk)	لَکّ (lakk)
oblique	لَکّ (lakk)	لَکّاں (lakkāṉ)
vocative	لَکّا (lakkā)	لَکّو (lakko)
ablative	لَکّوں (lakkoṉ)	—
locative	لَکّے (lakke)	لَکِّیں (lakkiīṉ)
instrumental	لَکّوں (lakkoṉ)	–

Further reading

• Iqbal, Salah ud-Din (2002), “لک”, in vaḍḍī panjābī lughat (in Punjabi), Lahore: عزیز پبلشرز [ʻazīz pabliśarz]
• “ਲੱਕ”, in Punjabi-English Dictionary, Patiala: Punjabi University, 2026
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985), “*lakka³”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 629

Etymology 2

Verb

لُک • (luk) (Gurmukhi spelling ਲੁਕ)

1. inflection of لُکݨا (lukṇā, “to hide”):
   1. stem
   2. second-person singular familiar imperative

Sindhi

Sindhi numbers ^(edit)

←  100	←  1,000	۱,۰۰,۰۰۰ 100,000	10,000,000 (107)  →	100,000,000,000 (1011)  →
Cardinal: لَکُ (lakhu)

Etymology

Inherited from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀮𑀓𑁆𑀔 (lakkha), from Sanskrit लक्ष (lakṣá). Compare Urdu لاکھ (lākh).

Numeral

لَکُ • (lakhu) (Devanagari spelling लखु)

1. hundred thousand, lakh

References

• Khānu, Balocu (1960–1988), “لَکُ”, in Jāmiʻ Sindhī lughāta (in Sindhi), Hyderabad, Sindh: Sindhī Adabī Borḍ