Other forms: lacquered, lacquers, lacquering
Lacquer is a hard, glossy finish that dries fast and is sprayed on rather than brushed. The mirror shine on a black Japanese box, the coat on a set of nails, the deep gleam of a red Chinese cabinet — run a finger over it and it feels like glass, not paint.
It works as a verb as well: a lacquered tray, lacquered chopsticks, the lacquered lid of a piano. In furniture and antiques, lacquer means the whole East Asian craft — layer after layer, each one polished smooth before the next goes on, sometimes dozens of them. There is also hair lacquer, an older word for the strong hairspray that holds a set overnight. Do not muddle it with varnish: lacquer dries by evaporating, which is why it sets in minutes and why it comes in a spray can.
1nounlacquerA hard glossy coating that dries quickly, used on wood, metal and nails.
“The box was finished with layers of black lacquer.”
2verbcoatTo coat something with lacquer.
“The doors were lacquered a deep red.”
3nounstrongA strong hairspray used to hold a hairstyle in place.
“She fixed her hair with lacquer before the party.”
lacquer is a coating.
Lacquer came from French lacque, 'a sort of sealing wax', which French took from Portuguese laca, 'gum lac'. The Portuguese had it from Persian, Persian from Hindi, and Hindi from the Sanskrit lākṣā. The short English word lac is the same word again, arriving by a shorter road.
Sanskrit
लाक्षा
Hindi
लाख
Persian
لاک
Portuguese
laca
French
lacque — a sort of sealing wax
English, today
lacquer
Built from
French lacque (“a sort of sealing wax”), from Portuguese laca, lacca (“gum lac”), from Persian لاک, from Hindi लाख, from Sanskrit लाक्षा. a doublet of lac.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove, Materials & Substances, Antiques & Collecting
First appears in chapter 35 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word