lacquer

American  

[lak-er] / ˈlæk ər /

Or lacker

noun

• lacquers
  plural

1. a protective coating consisting of a resin, cellulose ester, or both, dissolved in a volatile solvent, sometimes with pigment added.

2. any of various resinous varnishes, especially a resinous varnish obtained from a Japanese tree, Rhus verniciflua, used to produce a highly polished, lustrous surface on wood or the like.

3. Also called lacquerware, lacquer ware. ware, especially of wood, coated with such a varnish, and often inlaid.

   They collected fine Japanese lacquers.

4. Slang. any volatile solvent that produces euphoria when inhaled.

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verb (used with object)

• lacquers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• lacquered,
  past participle,  past
• lacquering
  present participle

1. to coat with lacquer.

2. to cover, as with facile or fluent words or explanations cleverly worded, etc.; obscure the faults of; gloss (often followed byover ).

   The speech tended to lacquer over the terrible conditions.

lacquer British  

/ ˈlækə /

noun

1. a hard glossy coating made by dissolving cellulose derivatives or natural resins in a volatile solvent

2. a black resinous substance, obtained from certain trees, used to give a hard glossy finish to wooden furniture

3. Also called: varnish tree. an E Asian anacardiaceous tree, Rhus verniciflua, whose stem yields a toxic exudation from which black lacquer is obtained

4. Also called: hair lacquer. a mixture of shellac and alcohol for spraying onto the hair to hold a style in place

5. art decorative objects coated with such lacquer, often inlaid

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verb

1. (tr) to apply lacquer to

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• lacquerer
  noun
• relacquer
  verb (used with object)
• unlacquered
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• lacquers
  plural

Participles

• lacquering
  present
• lacquered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• lacquer
  simple
• lacquers
  simple
• have lacquered
  perfect
• has lacquered
  perfect
• am lacquering
  progressive
• are lacquering
  progressive
• is lacquering
  progressive
• have been lacquering
  perfect progressive
• has been lacquering
  perfect progressive

Past

• lacquered
  simple
• had lacquered
  perfect
• was lacquering
  progressive
• were lacquering
  progressive
• had been lacquering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will lacquer
  simple
• will have lacquered
  perfect
• will be lacquering
  progressive
• will have been lacquering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of lacquer

1570–80; earlier leckar, laker < Portuguese lacre, lacar, unexplained variant of laca < Arabic lakk < Persian lâk lac ¹

Explanation

Lacquer is a clear liquid that is painted on a surface and dries hard and shiny. Lacquer can be used to protect wood. Wooden furniture or art objects made from wood are sometimes coated with lacquer. The lacquer makes the wood glossy and protects it from scratches and nicks. In Eastern Asia, there is a tradition of making decorative objects called "lacquerware," boxes, buttons, and other items that are made of wood and coated in lacquer. Lacquer comes from a now-obsolete French word, lacre, a type of sealing wax, and is ultimately rooted in the Sanskrit laksha, "red dye."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lacquer lacquers lacquered lacquering

And the red at-home nail lacquer, released by Revlon in the early 1930s, was a badge of honour for modern women rebelling against that kind of oppressive judgement.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

The Georgian-style, brick and stone home offers an array of gorgeous details, like glossy wood and stone floors, red lacquer walls in the formal dining room, and numerous fireplaces.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 25, 2026

The barrels -- bound tightly with rope, their fabric skins stiffened and darkened with lacquer -- inevitably recall the Gulf's vast hydrocarbon wealth.

From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026

For the dining room walls, eight Parisian artisans were flown in for months to achieve a Japanese-inspired lacquer finish.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025

They feature different looks—nose shapes, hair and eye colors, facial structures, hair textures, body shapes, and skin tones—matched with fabric swatches and rouge-stick smudges and nail lacquer.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton

Coating fossils with varnishes and/or lacquers was the norm in the past and sometimes is still necessary to preserve a fossil specimen in museum cabinets and exhibits.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 16, 2024

In his recent sculptures, Hartenstein has been incorporating a cerulean pigment developed in the G.D.R. for industrial lacquers, which he recalls seeing his grandfather use for carpentry.

From New York Times ● Feb. 13, 2023

Formaldehyde is in composite wood products such as plywood, as well as in building materials and insulation, glues, permanent press fabrics, paints, coatings, lacquers, finishes, as well as paper products.

From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2022

She mixes marmalade into compound butters, slips stone-fruit preserves into a marinade or on top of a pizza, and lacquers chicken wings with apricot jam.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2019

The strong odor of the colored lacquers can be smelled out on the sidewalk, even with the door shut.

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan

TAICHUNG, Taiwan—The first course arrived on a miniature lacquered rack, the kind you’d expect to hold ink brushes in a scholar’s studio.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

“Stone and hardwood floors, high ceilings, a high tech kitchen features lacquered wood cabinetry and Miele appliances,” reads the listing, which is held by Myra Nourmand of Nourmand & Associates.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 16, 2026

And then there are the newer versions — birds brined in buttermilk or their skins lacquered to glossy, bronzed perfection.

From Salon ● May 9, 2025

Ten feet tall and made of black lacquered wood decorated with gold, the shrine was carried in the Nisei Week Festival parade in Little Tokyo in August 1960, The Times reported.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2024

Roy Lee rubbed his head, chalk dust sticking to his lacquered D.A.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

I'm a proponent of lacquering bacon with the sweet-and-savory combo of maple syrup and white miso, which is the perfect complement to its salty, pork-y, smoky essence.

From Salon ● Jan. 26, 2023

He works on multiple tigers at a time and employs two or three people to help with sanding, lacquering and finishing tasks, he said.

From Reuters ● Jan. 25, 2022

“Manolo will be in the kitchen cooking his wonderful cuisine, and I’ll be in the larder, lacquering my Louis Vuitton cases with yacht varnish, bringing them to a high shine,” he tells me.

From The Guardian ● May 23, 2020

Try snipping locks or lacquering nails at the recommended safe distance of six feet.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 3, 2020

Bridget sat on the toilet lid, lacquering her nails with ballet pink, the radio perched behind her on top of the tank.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen

Related Words

• glaze
• varnish