different between lack vs dont

English

Etymology

Middle English, cognate with or from Middle Low German lak, Middle Dutch lac (“deficiency”) and Middle Dutch laken (“blame, lack”); all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *laka-, related to *lak(k)?n- (“to blame, reproach”), from Proto-Indo-European *lok-néh?-. See also Dutch lak (“calumny”), Old Norse lakr (“lacking”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lak/
• (US) IPA^(key): /læk/
• Rhymes: -æk

Noun

lack (countable and uncountable, plural lacks)

1. (obsolete) A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.
2. A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want.
   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene 1,^[1]

     […] let his lack of years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend estimation;

   • 1994, Green Day, Basket Case

     I went to a shrink, to analyze my dreams. He said it's lack of sex that's bringing me down.

Antonyms

• glut
• surplus

Derived terms

• lackless

Translations

Verb

lack (third-person singular simple present lacks, present participle lacking, simple past and past participle lacked)

1. (transitive) To be without, to need, to require.

   My life lacks excitement.

2. (intransitive) To be short (of or for something).

   He'll never lack for company while he's got all that money.

   • c. 1600,, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene 4,^[2]

     Hamlet. What hour now?

     Horatio. I think it lacks of twelve.

3. (intransitive, obsolete) To be in want.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Psalm 34.10,^[3]

     The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger […]

4. (obsolete) To see the deficiency in (someone or something); to find fault with, to malign, reproach.
   • c. 1385, William Langland, Piers Plowman, II:

     That is Mede þe Mayde quod she · hath noyed me ful oft / And ylakked my lemman.

Related terms

• lackluster

Translations

Further reading

• Kroonen, Guus (2013) , “lak(k)on-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, ?ISBN, page 325

Anagrams

• calk, kcal

German

Pronunciation

Verb

lack

1. imperative singular of lacken
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of lacken

Swedish

Etymology

From French lacre (“sealing wax”), from Portuguese laca.

Noun

lack n

1. lacquer

Declension

Related terms

• klarlack
• lacknafta
• lackskor
• nagellack

English

Contraction

dont

1. Misspelling of don't.

Breton

Alternative forms

• doned

Etymology

A suppletive verb. The verbal noun is from Middle Breton donet (influenced by monet (“to go”)), from Old Breton diminet. Cognate with Welsh dyfod, dod, and Cornish dos, dones; from Old Breton di, do + monet (“to go”). The other forms are from Proto-Celtic *toageti, itself also a suppletive verb (stemming from *ageti (“to drive”) and *pelh?-). See also Old Irish do·aig (“to drive off”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??nt/

Verb

dont

1. (intransitive) to come

Inflection

Conjugation

Derived terms

• a zeu

Danish

Noun

dont

1. a (piece of) work, a deed

French

Etymology

From Middle French dont, from Old French dunt, from Vulgar Latin/Latin d? unde (“from where”). Compare Spanish donde (“where”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??/
• Homophones: dom, don, dons
• Rhymes: -??

Pronoun

dont

1. of/from whom/which, whose

   Vous rappelez-vous ce dont je vous ai parlé ?

   Do you remember that of which we spoke?

   Il n’est rien dont je sois encore certain.

   It is nothing of which I am still certain.

   Quel est le pays dont provient cette marchandise suspecte ?

   What is the country from which the suspicious merchandise comes?

   J’ai décidé d’abandonner l’affaire dont je vous ai entretenu il y a quelques jours.

   I decided to abandon the matter of which we have been speaking for a few days.

   La maladie dont il est mort porte un nom imprononçable.

   The disease of which he died has an unpronounceable name.

   Les pays dont nous n’avons point de connaissance sont les destinations privilégiées des grands aventuriers.

   The countries of which we have little knowledge are the privileged destinations of great adventurers.

   Ces étoiles — dont le nom m’échappe — sont les plus brillantes de la voûte céleste.

   These stars, whose names escape me, are the brightest in the skies.

2. (sometimes) by which

   Le coup dont il fut frappé.

   The blow by which he was struck.

3. Denotes a part of a set, may be translated as "including" or such as in some situations.

   Il a eu dix enfants, dont neuf filles.

   He had ten children, nine of them girls.

Synonyms

• (of which): de qui, de quoi, duquel m, de laquelle f, desquels m pl, desquelles f pl

Derived terms

• dont acte
• dont appel
• dont auquel

References

Further reading

• “dont” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• tond

Middle English

Noun

dont

1. Alternative form of dint

Middle French

Alternative forms

• dant

Pronoun

dont

1. of whom; of which

Descendants

• French: dont

Occitan

Pronunciation

Preposition

dont

1. including, such as