lake

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A large body of water surrounded by land.

   We swam in the cool lake all afternoon.

2. 2
   noun

   A very large amount of a liquid.

   After the storm, the field had turned into a lake of mud.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Lake came through Old French lac from Latin lacus, meaning “basin, pool, lake.” In its earlier English use, it could refer to a pond or pool.

From Northern Middle English lake, lak, lac (also laik, layke; Southern loke), from Old English lāc (“play, sport, strife, battle, sacrifice, offering, gift, present, booty, message”), from Proto-West Germanic *laik, from Proto-Germanic *laikaz (“game, dance, hymn, sport”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“to bounce, shake, tremble”). Cognate with Old High German leih (“song, melody, music”), Old Norse leikr (whence Danish leg (“game”), Swedish leka (“to play”)), and Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌺𐍃 (laiks, “dance”). Doublet of lek. Verb form partly from Middle English laken, from Old English lacan, from Proto-G…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary