laak
See also: Laak and låk
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /laːk/
- Hyphenation: laak
- Homophone: Laak
- Rhymes: -aːk
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch lake, from Old Dutch *laka, from Proto-West Germanic *laku, from Proto-Germanic *lakō (“drain, ditch, stream, pool”), from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to leak, drain”).
Noun
laak f (plural laken, diminutive laakje n)
- (obsolete) pond, pool, lake
- watercourse, stream
- A drainage ditch.
- border, limit; frontier
- marshland
Further reading
- van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “laak1”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute
- Matthias de Vries; Lambert Allard te Winkel (1864), “laakI”, in Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, published 2001
Etymology 2
From Middle Dutch lāke, lieke, leke (“blood sucking worm”), from a root shared with Proto-Germanic *lēkijaz. Cognate with English leech.
Noun
laak f (plural laken)
- (dated) leech
- Synonyms: bloedzuiger, lijk
Further reading
- van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “laak2”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute
- Matthias de Vries; Lambert Allard te Winkel (1864), “laakII”, in Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, published 2001
Verb
laak
- first-person singular present indicative of laken
- imperative of laken
Anagrams
- kaal
Norwegian Nynorsk
Adjective
laak (neuter laakt, definite singular and plural laake)
- obsolete typography of låk