lacquer

English

Alternative forms

• lacker (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from French lacque (“a sort of sealing wax”), from Portuguese laca, lacca (“gum lac”), from Persian لاک (lâk), from Hindi लाख (lākh), from Sanskrit लाक्षा (lākṣā).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlæk.ə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlæk.ɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: lacker
• Rhymes: -ækə(ɹ)

Noun

lacquer (countable and uncountable, plural lacquers)

1. A glossy, resinous material used as a surface coating; either a natural exudation of certain trees, or a solution of nitrocellulose in alcohol, etc.

   Synonym: varnish

   • 1840, Frances Trollope, “Practical Information Carefully Obtained, and Promptly Acted upon— […]”, in The Widow Married; […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 2:

     Had he deemed it "wisest, best," Mr. O'Donagough was not without the means of furnishing a splendid mansion in very showy style, and yet not leaving a single morsel of lacker, or or-molu, unpaid for.

   • 1954, Arthur K. Doolittle, The technology of solvents and plasticizers:

     It is a solvent for nitrocellulose and vinyl chloride-acetate resins and may function as an antiblush agent in lacquers.

   • 1960, Francis E. Condon, Herbert Meislich, Introduction to Organic Chemistry‎^[1], page 274:

     Cellosolves are used as solvents for lacquers, for sealing cellophane wrapping, and in hydraulic-brake fluid.

   • 1992, Tadashi Inumaru, Mitsukuni Yoshida, The Traditional Crafts of Japan: Wood and bamboo:

     In place of traditional methods in which materials such as gesso, yellow ocher, powdered earth, liquid glue, and Japan tallow were used to obtain a gloss, and transparent lacquer was rubbed into the wood to protect it, materials such as artificially produced varoids and lacquer came into widespread use.

Derived terms

• lacquerable
• lacquer band
• lacquerer
• lacquerless
• lacquerlike
• lacquer tree
• lacquerware
• lacquerwork
• nail lacquer

 

Translations

glossy, resinous material used as a surface coating

• Arabic: وَرْنِيش m (warnīš)

  Egyptian Arabic: ورنيش m (warnīš), ^{(please verify)} لاكيه m (laké)

• Armenian: լաք (hy) (lakʻ)
• Belarusian: лак m (lak)
• Bulgarian: лак (bg) m (lak)
• Catalan: laca (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 漆 (zh) (qī), 蠟克 / 蜡克 (làkè), 清漆 (zh) (qīngqī)

• Czech: lak (cs) m
• Danish: lak c
• Dutch: lak (nl) m
• Esperanto: lako
• Faroese: lakk n
• Finnish: lakka (fi)
• French: laque (fr) f
• Galician: laca (gl) f
• Georgian: ლაკი (laḳi)
• German: Lack (de) m
• Hungarian: lakk (hu)
• Indonesian: lak (id)
• Irish: laicear m
• Italian: lacca (it) f
• Japanese: ラッカー (rakkā), ワニス (ja) (wanisu)
• Korean: 래커 (raekeo), 바니시 (banisi)
• Macedonian: лак m (lak)
• Malay: lakuer
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lakk (no) m

  Nynorsk: lakk m

• Polish: lakier (pl) m
• Portuguese: laca (pt)
• Romanian: lac (ro) n
• Russian: лак (ru) m (lak)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ла̏к m

  Roman: lȁk (sh) m

• Slovak: lak m
• Slovene: lak (sl) m
• Spanish: barniz (es) m, laca (es) f, lacre (es) m
• Swedish: lack (sv) c
• Tagalog: laka
• Thai: แล็กเกอร์ (th) (lɛ́k-gə̂ə)
• Turkish: lak (tr)
• Ukrainian: лак m (lak)

Verb

lacquer (third-person singular simple present lacquers, present participle lacquering, simple past and past participle lacquered)

1. To apply a lacquer to something or to give something a smooth, glossy finish.

Translations

to apply a lacquer to something

• Bulgarian: лакирам (bg) (lakiram)
• Catalan: lacar (ca)
• Danish: lakere
• Dutch: lakken (nl)
• French: laquer (fr)
• Galician: lacar
• German: lackieren (de)
• Irish: laicearaigh
• Italian: laccare (it)
• Portuguese: lacar (pt), laquear (pt)
• Russian: лакирова́ть (ru) (lakirovátʹ)
• Spanish: lacar (es), laquear (es), lacrar (es)
• Swedish: lackera (sv)

Further reading

• “lacquer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “lacquer”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “lacquer”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• claquer, Racquel, calquer