Lakh

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A lakh or lac (English pronunciation: /ˈlæk/ or /ˈlɑːk/) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; 105). It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Pakistan, and is often used in Indian English.

In English the word is used both as an attributive and non-attributive noun, and with either a marked ("-s") or unmarked plural: "1 lakh people" or "1 lakh of people", "5 lakh rupees", "5 lakh of rupees", "5 lakhs rupees", "5 lakhs of rupees" are all to be found.

The Indian numbering system also uses separators differently from the Western system — after the first three digits, a comma divides every two rather than every three digits, thus:

Indian System Western System
12,12,12,123 121,212,123
5,05,000 505,000
7,00,00,00,000 7,000,000,000

This accords with the Indian numbering system, which has units for thousand, hundred thousand, ten million, etc.

[edit] Etymology and regional variants

The root of the word lakh is Sanskrit लक्ष lakṣá, meaning "one hundred thousand".[1]

South Asian languages
Other languages

[edit] See also

[edit] References