"body of water surrounded by land and filling a depression or basin," early 12c., from Old French lack (12c., Modern French lac) and directly from Latin lacus "pond, pool, lake," also "basin, tank, reservoir" (related to lacuna "hole, pit"), from PIE *laku- "body of water, lake, sea" (source also of Greek lakkos "pit, tank, pond," Old Church Slavonic loky "pool, puddle, cistern," Old Irish loch "lake, pond"). The common notion is "basin."
There was a Germanic form of the PIE root which yielded Old Norse lögr "sea flood, water," Old English lacu "stream, pool, pond," lagu "sea flood, water, extent of the sea," leccan "to moisten" (see leak (v.)). In Middle English, lake, as a descendant of the Old English word, also could mean "stream; river gully; ditch; marsh; grave; pit of hell," and this might have influenced the form of the borrowed word.
"place of residence, habitation, abode," mid-14c., verbal noun from dwell (v.). Earlier it meant "a stupor" (early 14c.); "delay, procrastination; a staying in a place" (c. 1300).
"deep red coloring matter," 1610s, from French laque (15c., see lac), from which it was obtained.
former large lake of northern Egypt, from Greek moiris, from Egyptian mer-ur "big lake," from mer "lake" + ur "big."
Lake on the Nevada-California border, from Washo /da'aw/ "lake."
Canadian province, also one of the Great Lakes between Canada and New York, from Mohawk (Iroquoian) ontari:io "beautiful lake" or "great lake," from /-qtar-/ "lake, river." Related: Ontarian.
"of or pertaining to lakes," 1826, irregularly formed from Latin lacus "lake" (see lake (n.1)).
Chinese province, literally "south of the lake" (Dongting), from hu "lake" + nan "south." Related: Hunanese.
East African nation, independent under that name since 1964, from the name of an indigenous people. From 1907 to 1964 it was known as Nyasaland, from Lake Nyasa (now Lake Malawi), from the Swahili word for "lake."
