lackey

English

Alternative forms

• lacquey, lacky

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French laquais, which is probably (via Old Occitan lacai?) from Spanish lacayo, itself perhaps from Italian lacchè and Greek λακές (lakés), from Turkish ulak. Another possibility is through French, from Catalan alacay, from Arabic اَلْقَاضِي (al-qāḍī, “magistrate”). See French laquais.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlæ.ki/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æki

Noun

lackey (plural lackeys)

1. A footman, a liveried male servant.
   • 1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 198:

     My dearest father,—I say nothing of them,—but I dare to speak of myself,—I can never be a monk,—if that is your object—spurn me,—order your lacqueys to drag me from this carriage,—leave me a beggar in the streets to cry “fire and water,”—but do not make me a monk.

   • 1884, John Ruskin, “By the Rivers of Waters”, in “Our Fathers Have Told Us.”: Sketches of the History of Christendom for Boys and Girls who have been Held at Its Fonts, part I (The Bible of Amiens), Orpington, Kent: George Allen, →OCLC, pages 30–31:

     St. Martin [of Tours] looks round, first, deliberately;—becomes aware of a tatterdemalion and thirsty-looking soul of a beggar at his chair side, who has managed to get his cup filled somehow, also—by a charitable lacquey. St. Martin turns his back on the Empress, and hobnobs with him!

2. A fawning, servile follower.

   Synonyms: lickspittle; see also Thesaurus:loyal follower

Derived terms

• lackey caterpillar
• lackey moth

Translations

liveried male servant

• Albanian: lake (sq) m
• Arabic: خَادِمْ m (ḵādim)
• Armenian: սպասավոր (hy) (spasavor)
• Belarusian: лаке́й m (lakjéj), лёкай m (ljókaj) (dated)
• Bulgarian: лаке́й (bg) m (lakéj)
• Catalan: lacai m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奴僕／奴仆 (zh) (núpú), 僕役／仆役 (zh) (púyì), 僕人／仆人 (zh) (púrén)

• Czech: lokaj m
• Danish: lakaj c
• Dutch: lakei (nl) m
• Estonian: lakei (et)
• Finnish: lakeija (fi)
• French: laquais (fr) m
• Georgian: ლაქია (lakia)
• German: Lakai (de) m
• Greek: λακές (el) m (lakés), υπηρέτης (el) m (ypirétis)
• Hungarian: lakáj (hu), inas (hu), komornyik (hu)
• Irish: gíománach m
• Italian: lacchè (it) m
• Japanese: 従僕 (ja) (じゅうぼく, jūboku)
• Korean: 하인(下人) (ko) (hain), 종 (ko) (jong)
• Latvian: lakijs m
• Lithuanian: liokajus m
• Macedonian: лакеј m (lakej)
• Maori: tonotono
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lakei m

• Persian: نوکر (fa) (nokar), پادو (fa) (pâdow)
• Polish: lokaj (pl) m
• Portuguese: lacaio (pt) m
• Romanian: lacheu (ro) m
• Russian: лаке́й (ru) m (lakéj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лакеј m

  Roman: lakej m

• Slovak: lokaj m
• Slovene: lakaj (sl) m
• Spanish: lacayo m
• Swedish: lakej (sv) c
• Thai: คนใช้ (th) (kon-chái), ขี้ข้า (th) (kîi-kâa)
• Ukrainian: лаке́й m (lakéj), льо́кай m (lʹókaj) (dated)
• Vietnamese: đầy tớ (vi)

a fawning, servile follower

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: халу́й m (xalúj), лаке́й m (lakjéj), пры́хвасцень m (prýxvascjenʹ)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 走狗 (zh) (zǒugǒu), 狗腿子 (zh) (gǒutuǐzi), 走卒 (zh) (zǒuzú), 奴才 (zh) (núcái)

• Danish: lakaj c
• Dutch: lakei (nl) m, slaafje (nl), voetvaag
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• French: laquais (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Lakai (de) m
• Hungarian: lakáj (hu), talpnyaló (hu), csatlós (hu), szolgalélek (hu)
• Icelandic: höfðingjasleikja f
• Italian: leccaculo (it) m, lacchè (it), lecchino (it) m
• Japanese: 走狗 (ja) (そうく, sōku)
• Korean: 주구(走狗) (ko) (jugu)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: потрчко n (potrčko)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lakei m

• Polish: sługus (pl) m, przydupas (pl) m (vulgar)
• Portuguese: lacaio (pt) m
• Romanian: lacheu (ro) m
• Russian: холу́й (ru) m (xolúj), лаке́й (ru) m (lakéj), при́хвостень (ru) m (príxvostenʹ)
• Spanish: lacayo m
• Swedish: lakej (sv) c
• Tagalog: alipores (tl), tuta (tl)
• Thai: ลิ่วล้อ (th) (lîu-lɔ́ɔ), ลูกสมุน, สมุน (th) (sà-mǔn)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: лаке́й m (lakéj), холу́й m (xolúj), лаки́за m or f (lakýza), лаку́за m or f (lakúza), при́хвостень m (prýxvostenʹ)

Verb

lackey (third-person singular simple present lackeys, present participle lackeying, simple past and past participle lackeyed)

1. (transitive) To attend, wait upon, serve obsequiously.
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     [T]he ebbed man, ne'er loved till ne'er worth love,
     Comes deared by being lacked. This common body,
     Like to a vagabond flag upon the stream,
     Goes to and back, lackeying the varying tide,
     To rot itself with motion.

   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:

     So dear to Heav'n is Saintly chastity,
     That when a soul is found sincerely so,
     A thousand liveried Angels lacky her […]

2. (intransitive, obsolete) To toady, play the flunky.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “lackey”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Ackley, Yackel