Etymology: Old English lác ( < prehistoric *laiko^m , *laikâ ) neuter and feminine; not found with the same meaning in any other Germanic language, but usually identified with the Common Germanic *laiko- ‘play’, lake n.² With regard to the sense, it may be compared with Old English lícian to please, like v.¹, from another grade of the same root.

Etymology: < Old Norse leik-r play, corresponding to Old English lác neuter or masculine warlike activity (once only; but see lake n.¹), Old High German leich masculine and neuter song, melody, Gothic laik-s dance < Old Germanic *laiko- , a verbal noun < *laikan to play, lake v.¹

Etymology: Old English lacu strong feminine; the sense shows that it is not < Latin lacus (see lake n.⁴) but a native word, from a Germanic root *lak- denoting moisture; compare Old English lęccan to moisten, leach v.², also leak n., leak v.The Old High German lahha (German lache) pond, bog, is formally coincident, but is perhaps of Latin origin.

Etymology: Early Middle English lac , < Old French lac, < Latin lacus basin, tub, tank, lake, pond; the popular form of the word in Old French was lai . The present English form lake (recorded from the 14th cent.) may be due to confusion with lake n.³, or perhaps rather to independent adoption of Latin lacus.

Etymology: First found in Chaucer; probably < Dutch laken, corresponding to Old English lachen ‘clamidem’ (Wright-Wülcker 377/22), Old Frisian leken, Old Saxon lakan mantle (chlamys), veil of the temple, Old High German lahhan (Middle High German lachen), modern German lakan from Low German.

Etymology: Originally a variant of lac n.¹

Etymology: A Common Germanic reduplicative strong verb, Old English lácan, past tense léolc, léc = Old Norse leika, past tense lék (Swedish leka, Danish lege), Gothic laikan, past tense lailaik, Middle High German leichen, past tense leichte, past participle geleichen. The word seems in Middle English to have been re-adopted in the Scandinavian form. Its currency is almost entirely northern, no forms with o being known. The inflection has been weak since the 13th cent.

Etymology: < lake n.¹

Etymology: < lake n.⁶