From Portuguese laca, from Hindi लाख (lākh)/Urdu لاکھ (lākh) or cognates in other Indo-Aryan languages, from Sanskrit लाक्षा (lākṣā). Doublet of lacquer.
Meanings
(countable, uncountable) A resinous substance or lacquer produced mainly on the banyan tree by the female of Kerria lacca, a scale insect.
At the turn of the century, the ever-expanding electrical industry was running low on shellac, a resin secreted by the female lac bug which could be used as an insulating material. 2019 November 5, Alice Bell, “Can science break its plastic addiction?”, in CNN:
ru лак (a resinous substance) · de Lack (a resinous substance) · fa لاک (a resinous substance) · ar لَكّ (a resinous substance) · ar لُكّ (a resinous substance) · sa लाक्षा (a resinous substance) · pt laca (a resinous substance) · hu lakk (a resinous substance) · fi lakka (a resinous substance) · te లక్క (a resinous substance) · el λάκη (a resinous substance) · it lacca (a resinous substance) · pl lakier (a resinous substance) · fr laque (a resinous substance) · he לַכָּה (a resinous substance) · as লা (a resinous substance) · th ครั่ง (a resinous substance) · ko 래커 (a resinous substance) · es laca (a resinous substance) · kn ಅರಗು (a resinous substance) · ja ラッカー (a resinous substance)
The Laccadives and Maldives, for instance, meaning literally the "lac of islands" and the "thousand islands," are a series of such atolls; […] 1878 August, “Contemporary Portraits. New Series.—No. 8. Charles Darwin, F.R.S.”, in The University Magazine: A Literary and Philosophic Review, volume II, London: Hurst & Blackett, […], →OCLC, page 154:
[…] Lake [i.e., Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake] should not have leisure to breathe for a moment, and calamities would fall on lacs of human beings in continued war by the attacks of his army, which would overwhelm like the waves of the sea. 1804, R[obert] Montgomery Martin, quoting Yashwantrao Holkar, “Section II. European Intercourse—Rise and Growth of British Power.”, in The Indian Empire: […], volume I (History, Topography, Population, Government, Finance, Commerce, and Staple Products), London; New York, N.Y.: The London Printing and Publishing Company, published [1858], →OCLC, page 399, column 2:
1992, Big Mello, Bone Hard Zaggin, Rap-A-Lot Records, track 5. "Mac's Drive 'Lac's"
Macs drive lacs.
Last night I was driving around in my lac.
The candy gloss is immaculate, it's simply amazing / Them elbows poking wide on that candy ’Lac 2005, “Drive Slow”, in Late Registration, performed by Kanye West: