lac
pronunciation
How to pronounce lac in British English:
UK [læk]
How to pronounce lac in American English:
US [læk]
-
- Noun:
- resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects; used in e.g. varnishes and sealing wax
Word Origin
- lac (n.)
- "red resinous substance," 1550s (perhaps via Middle French lacce), earlier lacca (early 15c., from Medieval Latin form lacca), from Persian lak, from Hindi lakh (Prakrit lakkha), from Sanskrit laksha "red dye," of uncertain origin. According to Klein, literally "one hundred thousand," in reference to the insects that gather in great numbers on the trees and make the resin run out. But others say lakh is an alteration of Sanskrit rakh, from an IE root word for "color, dye" [Watkins]. Still another guess is that Sanskrit laksha is related to English lax, lox "salmon," and the substance was perhaps originally so called from being somewhat the color of salmon [Barnhart].
Example
- 1. An inferior lac produced by lac insects in madagascar .
- 2. A purplish red pigment prepared from lac or cochineal .
- 3. This review introduced researching progresses of lac dye 's composition , characteristic and extracted technology .
- 4. It was found that the content of soft resin in chinese lac was higher than that of indian lac .
- 5. Field research was conducted on 7 host tree species and lac insect population dynamic of lac insect during estival generation .