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lacking

/ˈlækɪŋ/

Missing, insufficient, or absent in some respect

From Proto-Germanic, ultimately Proto-Indo-European lack (Absence).

verb
noun
adjective
lack
Proto-Indo-European
*lok-néh₂-
Reconstructed root associated with slackness, deficiency, or reproach
Proto-Germanic
*laką, *lakaz
“Slackness”; “limp, slack, loose, low”
Middle English
lack, lakke, lak
“Absence, want, shortage, deficiency”
Modern English
lack → lacking
The present participle and gerund of lack; “being without” or “not having enough”
Modern English
lacking
“

Picture a medieval English speaker pointing to a damaged tool and calling its defect a lack: the word first appears around 1300, carrying the practical sense of an absence, shortage, or fault. Its deeper Germanic relatives described something slack, loose, or low—an object that failed to be taut, full, or up to standard. That family is also tied to verbs meaning “to blame” or “to reproach,” which makes a curious kind of sense: what is lacking is not merely missing, but failing an expected test. English later attached the ordinary participial ending -ing, giving us lacking for both “being without” and “falling short in quality.” In modern slang, especially in Chicago usage, “caught lacking” can mean caught without a gun—or simply caught unprepared; the old idea of deficiency is still there, only now it may be hiding in a tense street scene or a humiliating video clip.

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