alack

C2+ Topic:Register & Style

US /əˈlæk/ UK /əˈlak/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

intj
an archaic exclamation expressing sorrow or regret

Alack, the poor man had lost everything to the fire.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 intj · an archaic exclamation... alas woe

Word family

Related forms alas lack

Simplified etymology

Alack arose in late Middle English as an exclamation formed from a, “ah!,” and lak, “lack.” It first expressed dissatisfaction or the thought that something was a shame, then came to convey regret or surprise; it also appears in alack-a-day and the later lackaday.

Etymology

Middle English, probably from the interjection ah + lack ('loss, fault, shame'), expressing dismay; sometimes analyzed as an alteration of alas.

lac Middle English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

External links

# alack

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** intj
**IPA (US):** /əˈlæk/
**IPA (UK):** /əˈlak/

## Meanings
1. an archaic exclamation expressing sorrow or regret

## Examples
- Alack, the poor man had lost everything to the fire.

## Synonyms
- alas
- woe

## Related Forms
- alas
- lack

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: lac

## Etymology
Middle English, probably from the interjection ah + lack ('loss, fault, shame'), expressing dismay; sometimes analyzed as an alteration of alas.

## AI Etymology
alack has the etymological history: Middle English, probably from the interjection ah + lack ('loss, fault, shame'), expressing dismay; sometimes analyzed as an alteration of alas. Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the intj sense is "an archaic exclamation expressing sorrow or regret", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as alas, lack, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Middle English lac, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- Register & Style
- General Vocabulary

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