lakh
Part of speech: num
noun
Morphological type: simple
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: lakhs
pos: num
tags: plural
form: lakh
pos: num
tags: plural
form: lakhs
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: lakh
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: One hundred thousand (10⁵): 100,000, that is, with Indian digit grouping, 1,00,000.
pos: num
tags: Myanmar
South-Asia
examples: Holonym: crore
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.
[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, […]
[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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
gloss: One hundred thousand rupees.
pos: noun
tags: Myanmar
South-Asia
examples: Since my arriual heere, there vvas ſent vnto this King one of the richeſt preſents that I haue heard to be ſent to any Prince in all my life time: […] the vvhole Preſent vvas vvorth ten of their Leakes, as they call them; a Leak being ten thouſand pound ſterling: the vvhole, a hundred thouſand pounds ſterling.
INprimis, of Rupias Ecbery, thirteene Crou (euery Crou is an hundred Leckes, and euery Leck an hundred thouſand Rupias) or one thouſand three hundred Leckes.
Who has not admired that noble speech of my Lord [Robert] Clive, when reproached on his return from India with making rather too free with jaghires, lakhs, gold mohurs, diamonds, pearls, and what not: "Upon my life," said the hero of Plassy, "when I think of my opportunities, I am surprised I took so little!"
gloss: Often in the plural: an indefinitely large number; a zillion.
pos: noun
tags: Myanmar
South-Asia
figuratively
examples: […] 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.
The Laccadives and Maldives, for instance, meaning literally the "lac of islands" and the "thousand islands," are a series of such atolls; […]
Translations: