What does alack mean?
'Alack' is an archaic English interjection used to express sorrow, regret, or dismay, functioning much like its better-known cousin 'alas'. The word combines an exclamation of grief with the notion of 'lack' or loss, and it appears frequently in the literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, most famously throughout Shakespeare's plays, where characters utter it in moments of misfortune or lament. A closely related extended form, 'alackaday', meaning roughly 'alas, the day', enjoyed similar popularity in the same period. Today 'alack' has all but vanished from ordinary speech; when it does appear, it is usually in literary pastiche, historical fiction, or humorous imitation of old-fashioned diction. Because of this, the word carries a distinctly theatrical and quaint flavour: to say 'alack' is less to express real distress than to evoke the voice of an earlier age. For readers of Renaissance drama, however, recognising 'alack' remains essential to understanding the emotional register of countless laments and complaints.
interjectionAn archaic exclamation expressing sorrow, regret, or dismay; a cry of 'alas'. Now used almost exclusively in literary or deliberately old-fashioned contexts.
- An exclamation of sorrow, regret, or dismay (archaic).
""Alack, the day is lost," she sighed, casting her eyes upon the ruined harvest."
"Alack, what poor manners my young cousin has shown!"
""Alack, I fear our journey ends here," said the old knight."
Shakespeare's characters cried 'alack' so often that it became a verbal trademark of Elizabethan grief — today it survives mostly as a deliberate throwback.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of alack
'Alack' arose in late Middle English as a fusion of the exclamation 'ah' with 'lack', the familiar noun and verb meaning loss or deficiency, effectively conveying 'ah, what a loss!'. It emerged during the fifteenth century and flourished through the Elizabethan era, appearing constantly in Shakespeare alongside its extended form 'alackaday' ('alack, the day'). Both words share their root with 'lack', which itself came into English from Old French in the medieval period. As 'alas' remained the dominant exclamation of sorrow, 'alack' gradually fell out of use after the seventeenth century.
Related word forms
How alack is actually used
Highly archaic and literary; using 'alack' today signals deliberate imitation of Shakespearean or early modern English style. It carries a theatrical, slightly quaint connotation rather than genuine everyday sorrow.
Easily confused with alack
'Alas' is the standard, still-current exclamation of sorrow, while 'alack' is its rarer, more archaic counterpart that survives mainly in older literature.