lakh
Language: English
Part of speech: num
Pronunciation: note: Indic
ipa: /lɑkʰ/
ipa: /lɑk/
ipa: /læk/
rhymes: -ɑːk
rhymes: -æk
homophone: lark (non-rhotic)
homophone: lac
homophone: lack
Forms: form: lakhs
form: lakh
Etymology: Borrowed from Hindustani लाख or لاکھ (lākh), from Sanskrit लक्ष (lakṣa), from लक्ष् (lakṣ, “to mark; to sign; to observe, perceive”), possibly from रक्ष् (rakṣ, “to observe (a duty, law, etc.); to guard, protect”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂lek- (“to protect”).
Senses: examples: text: Holonym: crore
text: They ſay the VVorld ſhall laſt foure Ages; or VVorlds, vvhereof three are paſt. The firſt laſted ſeuenteene Laches (euery Laches containeth a hundred thouſand yeares) and 28000 yeares. Men in that VVorld liued tenne thouſand yeares, vvere of great ſtature of bodie, and great ſinceritie of minde.
ref: 1613, Samuel Purchas, “[Asia.] Of the Great Mogor.”, in Purchas His Pilgrimage. Or Relations of the World and the Religions Observed in All Ages and Places Discouered, from the Creation vnto this Present. […], London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, book V (Of the East-Indies: And of the Seas and Ilands about Asia, with Their Religions), page 406:
text: [T]he Mahrattas having offered Alimerdy Khan his liberty for a lak of Pagodas [a unit of currency]; he does in the Nabob's name desire that the Governor of Madras would receive jewels and money to that amount into his custody, […]
ref: 1693 January 2 (date written; Gregorian calendar), J[ames] Talboys Wheeler, compiler, “Governorship of Mr. Nathaniel Higginson. 1692–1698.”, in Madras in the Olden Time: Being a History of the Presidency from the First Foundation of the Governorship of Thomas Pitt, Grandfather of the Earl of Chatham. 1639–1702. […], Madras: […] J[oshua] Higginbotham, […], by Graves and Co., Scottish Press, published 1861, →OCLC, page 262:
text: [S]he had gone out to India to keep house for her expensive, raffish father, and she had lived there in splendid style even after her marriage to a penniless young man, her father's aide-de-camp, […] But they were both killed in the same engagement against Tippoo Sahib, her father owing ten lakhs of rupees and her husband nearly half that sum.
ref: 1972, Patrick O’Brian, Post Captain, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, published 1998, →ISBN, page 18:
text: After a hunt lasting more than a year-and-a-half, police have arrested a couple for duping around 2 lakh people in one of India's biggest investment frauds involving an estimated Rs 1,100 crore.
ref: 2012 November 13, Neeraj Chauhan, Dwaipayan Ghosh, “Couple from Maharashtra held for Rs 1,100 crore stock scam”, in The Times of India, Mumbai, Maharashtra: The Times Group, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Sep 2022:
text: According to data published in WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Record, India's annualised non-polio AFP rate for 2011 stood at 15.06 per one lakh children below 15 years of age, compared to a global rate that year of 5.48.
ref: 2013 January 3, N. Gopal Raj, “Polio free does not mean paralysis free”, in The Hindu, Chennai, Tamil Nadu: THG Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Jan 2013:
text: Tamil Nadu is the second biggest market for small business credit, accounting for 9.3% of the national total, as per a joint report by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and credit bureau CRIF High Mark. As of June 30, 2025, Tamil Nadu had an outstanding small business credit portfolio of about ₹4.21 lakh crore, up 15.7% from ₹3.64 lakh crore as of June 30 2024, the report said. Maharashtra remained the largest market with ₹6.0 lakh crore in outstanding credit, while Tamil Nadu, Gujarat (₹3.69 lakh crore), Uttar Pradesh (₹3.61 lakh crore), and Karnataka (₹3.18 lakh crore) round out the top five by portfolio size. Uttar Pradesh registered highest outstanding portfolio growth of 20.7% on a year-on-year basis. The report defines "Small Business" as those businesses that have an aggregated credit exposure not exceeding ₹5 crore from the formal lending system.
ref: 2025 September 8, Sanjay Vijayakumar, “Tamil Nadu second biggest market for small business credit: study”, in The Hindu:
text: GST [Goods and Services Tax] simplification will do good for sellers and buyers, said Samir Kumar, Country Manager, Amazon India […] Amazon said it is updating its systems with the revised GST codes for sellers to move to the new tax structure […] Amazon said it has over 17 lakh sellers on its platform and around 2,000 last mile delivery stations across the country.
ref: 2025 September 8, Haider Ali Khan, “GST simplification will do good for sellers and buyers, says Amazon Country Manager”, in The Hindu:
related: word: lac
glosses: One hundred thousand (10⁵): 100,000, that is, with Indian digit grouping, 1,00,000.
Derived terms: word: LPA
raw_tags: of lakhs per annum
Related terms: ₹
rupees