Lakh
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A lakh (also written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; 105). It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Pakistan, and is often used in Indian English.
Exact pronunciation varies in different South Asian languages. In Hindi it is (IPA) [la:kʰ], in British English [lak] (homophone with British "lack") or [lɑ:k] (homophone with British "lark"), and in American English [lɑk] (homophone with American "lock"). In English the word is used both as an attributive and non-attributive noun, and with either a marked ("-s") or unmarked plural: "1 lakh people" or "1 lakh of people", "5 lakh rupees", "5 lakh of rupees", "5 lakhs rupees", "5 lakhs of rupees" are all to be found.
The Indian numbering system also uses separators differently from the Western system — after the first three digits, a comma divides every two rather than every three digits, thus:
- Indian system: 12,12,12,123 5,05,000 7,00,00,00,000.
- are the same quantities as Western system: 121,212,123 505,000 7,000,000,000
This accords with the Indian naming system, which has units for thousand, hundred thousand, ten million, etc.
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[edit] Etymology and regional variants
The lakh is known by various regional names in modern languages, all derived from the Sanskrit word लक्ष lakṣa stake, prize; mark, sign; aim; 100000 (number):[1]
- Assamese: লাখ lakh
- Bengali: লাখ lakh or লক্ষ lokkho
- Gujarati: લાખ lākh
- Hindi लाख lākh
- Japanese: 洛叉 rakusha
- Kannada: ಲಕ್ಷ lakṣa
- Malayalam: ലക്ഷം lakṣam
- Mandarin: 洛叉 luòchā
- Marathi: लाख lākh or लक्ष lakṣa
- Nepali: लाख lākh
- Oriya:Lakhya
- Pashto: لک lakh
- Punjabi: ਲੱਖ لکھ lākh
- Swahili: laki or lakhi
- Tamil : இலட்சம் laṭcham
- Telugu: లక్ష lakṣa
- Thai: หลัก lakh or lak "100000" only in references to the Sanskrit or Pali word; Thai numerals' digit place value (lakh nuay ลักหน่วย, unit's place, lakh sip หลักสิบ ten's place, etc.); a significant stake, post, pillar or milestone; mooring (watercraft); rule (of law or religion; aim, goal[2]
- Urdu: لاکھ lakh
[edit] Other
Lakh in other languages having Proto-Indo-European roots:
- English lac "red resinous substance," 1553, from Persian lak, from Hindi lakh (Prakrit lakkha), from Sanskrit. laksha, which, according to The Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (Ernest Klein, 1899-1983) is literally "one hundred thousand," in reference to the insects that gather in great numbers on the trees and make the resin run out. But others say lakh is an alteration of Sanskrit rakh, from an Indo-European root word for "color" (Webster). Still another guess is that Sanskrit laksha is related to English lax, lox "salmon," and the substance was perhaps originally so called from being somewhat the color of salmon.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Digital Dictionaries of South Asia Sir Ralph Lilley Turner (1888-1983): Comparative Dictionary of The Indo-Aryan Languages, page 629: lakṣá 10881. Data for this dictionary was most recently updated in January 2006.
- ^ Online Royal Institute Dictionary, 1999 edition: select "ห" and enter หลัก
- ^ Online Etymology Dictionary retrieved 2008-11-12
[edit] See also
- Crore (= 100 lakh)
- Names of numbers in English
- Names of large numbers
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