lost

See also: Lost, löst, løst, and łöst

English

Alternative forms

• los'
• loss

Etymology

From Middle English loste, losede (preterite) and Middle English lost, ilost, ilosed (past participle), from Old English losode (preterite) and Old English losod, ġelosod, equivalent to lose +‎ -t.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: lŏst, IPA^(key): /lɒst/

  Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (UK, dated) enPR: lôst, IPA^(key): /lɔːst/
• (US) enPR: lôst, IPA^(key): /lɔst/
• (US, cot–caught merger) enPR: läst, IPA^(key): /lɑst/

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /lɒst/

  Audio (CA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒst, -ɔːst

Verb

lost

1. simple past and past participle of lose

Derived terms

• I lost my backpack
• I lost my bag
• I lost my glasses
• I lost my handbag
• I lost my keys
• I lost my wallet
• I've lost my keys
• long-lost
• look as if one had lost a shilling and found sixpence
• look as if one has lost a shilling and found sixpence
• no love lost

 

Adjective

lost (comparative loster or more lost, superlative lostest or most lost)

1. Having wandered from, or unable to find, the way.

   The children were soon lost in the forest.

2. In an unknown location; unable to be found.

   Deep beneath the ocean, the Titanic was lost to the world.

3. Not perceptible to the senses; no longer visible.

   an island lost in a fog; a person lost in a crowd

4. Parted with; no longer held or possessed.

   a lost limb; lost honour

5. Not employed or enjoyed; thrown away; employed ineffectually; wasted; squandered.

   a lost day; a lost opportunity or benefit; no time should be lost

6. Ruined or destroyed, either physically or morally; past help or hope.

   a ship lost at sea; a woman lost to virtue; a lost soul

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     They struck me also as being of surpassing interest as representing, probably with studious accuracy, the last rites of the dead as practised among an utterly lost people, and even then I thought how envious some antiquarian friends of my own at Cambridge would be if ever I found an opportunity of describing these wonderful remains to them.

7. Hardened beyond sensibility or recovery; alienated; insensible.

   lost to shame; lost to all sense of honour

8. Occupied with, or under the influence of, something, so as not to notice external things.

   to be lost in thought

Derived terms

Terms derived from lost (adjective)

• all is not lost
• get lost
• he who hesitates is lost
• I'm lost
• long lost
• lost and found
• lost cause
• Lost Creek
• lost decade
• lost errand
• lost for words
• lost generation
• lost ground
• lost highway
• lost in action
• lost in the sauce
• lost in the shuffle
• lost in thought
• lost in time
• lost in translation
• lost motion
• lost neutral
• lost on
• lost property
• lost river
• lost sheep
• lost soul
• lost to the world
• lost wages
• lost wax
• lost-wax casting
• lost-wax process
• lost weekend
• lost with all hands
• lost world
• make up for lost time
• one who hesitates is lost
• Ten Lost Tribes

 

Translations

unable to find one's way

• Arabic: ضَائِع (ḍāʔiʕ)

  Egyptian Arabic: تايه (tāyeh)

  Hijazi Arabic: ضايِع (ḍāyiʕ), تايِه (tāyih), مَفْقود (mafgūd)

  South Levantine Arabic: ضايِع (ḍāyiʕ)

• Armenian: կորած (hy) (korac), մոլորված (molorvac)
• Asturian: perdíu
• Azerbaijani: azmış
• Brunei Malay: sasat
• Catalan: perdut (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎤᎴᎾᎯᏛ (ulenahidv)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 迷路 (zh) (mílù)

• Danish: vildfaren, faret vild
• Esperanto: perdita
• Finnish: eksynyt, eksyksissä (fi)
• French: perdu (fr)
• Galician: perdido
• German: verirrt (de), verloren (de), umher irrend, orientierungslos (de)
• Greek: χαμένος (el) m (chaménos)
• Hebrew: אבוד (he) m (a'vud), אבודה f (a'vuda)
• Hungarian: elveszett (hu)
• Icelandic: týndur (is), villtur (is)
• Indonesian: tersesat (id)
• Irish: ar strae
• Italian: perso (it)
• Khmer: វង្វេង (km) (vŭəngveing)
• Korean: 길을 잃어버리다 (gireul ireobeorida), 길을 잃다 (gireul ilta)
• Latin: (expressed by) dēsīderārī , perditus
• Malay: sesat (ms), hilang (ms)
• Maori: ngaro
• Mirandese: perdidoso
• Persian: مفقود (fa) (mafqud), گم‌ (gom)
• Polish: zagubiony (pl)
• Portuguese: perdido (pt)
• Romanian: pierdut (ro)
• Russian: заблуди́вшийся (ru) (zabludívšijsja)
• Sicilian: pirdutu (scn)
• Spanish: perdido (es)
• Swedish: vilse (sv)
• Turkish: kayıp (tr), yitik (tr)
• Vietnamese: lạc (vi) (落)

in an unknown location

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: կորած (hy) (korac), կորուսյալ (hy) (korusyal)
• Brunei Malay: ilang
• Bulgarian: изгу́бен (bg) (izgúben)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 被遺失／被遗失 (zh) (bèiyíshī)

• Danish: forsvundet
• Dutch: kwijt (nl)
• Esperanto: perdita
• Finnish: kadonnut (fi), kadoksissa (fi), hukassa
• French: perdu (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: verschollen (de), verloren (de), verirrt (de)
• Greek: χαμένος (el) m (chaménos)
• Icelandic: týndur (is)
• Irish: caillte
• Italian: perso (it), smarrito (it)
• Latin: āmissus, (expressed by) dēsīderārī
• Maori: ngaro
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tapt (no)

• Persian: مفقود (fa) (mafqud), گم (fa) (gom)
• Polish: zagubiony (pl)
• Portuguese: perdido (pt), extraviado (pt)
• Russian: поте́рянный (ru) (potérjannyj), расте́рянный (ru) (rastérjannyj), пропа́вший (ru) (propávšij)
• Spanish: perdido (es)
• Turkish: kayıp (tr), yitik (tr)
• Vietnamese: thất lạc (vi)

not perceptible to the senses; no longer visible

• Finnish: kadonnut (fi)
• German: unauffindbar (de)
• Russian: пропа́вший из ви́ду (propávšij iz vídu), исче́знувший из по́ля зре́ния (isčéznuvšij iz pólja zrénija)

parted with; no longer held or possessed

• Finnish: menetetty (fi), hukattu (fi)
• German: verloren (de), verlustig (de), weg (de), -los (de)
• Polish: stracony (pl)
• Russian: утра́ченный (ru) (utráčennyj)

not employed or enjoyed; thrown away

• Finnish: hukattu (fi)
• German: rausgeschmissen (de), rausgeworfen
• Russian: напра́сно / зря / да́ром потра́ченный (naprásno / zrja / dárom potráčennyj)

ruined or destroyed

• Finnish: kadonnut (fi), kadotettu (fi)
• Russian: погибший (ru) (pogibšij), падший (ru) (padšij), пропадший (ru) (propadšij), разбитый (ru) (razbityj)

hardened beyond sensibility or recovery

• Finnish: paatunut (fi)

occupied with, or under the influence of, something

• Finnish: uppoutunut
• Russian: погружённый (ru) (pogružónnyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} verloren (nl), ^{(please verify)} verdwaald (nl)
• French: ^{(please verify)} perdu (fr)
• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} დაკარგული (daḳarguli)
• German: ^{(please verify)} verloren (de)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} kehilangan (id), ^{(please verify)} kalah (id)
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} caillte, ^{(please verify)} easpach
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 失った (うしなった, ushinatta), 負けた (まけた, maketa) (失った (うしなった, ushinatta), 負けた (まけた, maketa))
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 잃다 (ko) (ilta)
• Maori: ^{(please verify)} ngaro
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} pierdut (ro)
• Scottish Gaelic: ^{(please verify)} caillte
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} bị mất

Anagrams

• LTOs, OSLT, OTLs, STOL, lots, slot, tols

Breton

Etymology

Cognate with Welsh llost, Cornish lost, Gaulish losto-, from Proto-Celtic *lustā, from Proto-Indo-European *lew- (“to divide, split”), possibly related to Old Norse ljósta (“to strike”), Proto-Germanic *leustaną.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɔst]

Noun

lost m (plural lostoù)

1. A tail.
2. (informal) a cock, a penis.

   Ha ma lost bras 'zo bet troc'het

   And my big penis was cut off (from a Breton bawdy song)

Cornish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *lustā, from Proto-Indo-European *lew- (“to divide, split”), possibly related to Old Norse ljósta (“to strike”), Proto-Germanic *leustaną. Cognate with Welsh llost, Breton lost, Gaulish losto-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɔst]

Noun

lost m

1. A tail.
2. (informal) a cock, a penis.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔst

Verb

lost

1. inflection of lossen:
   1. second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. (archaic) plural imperative

Adjective

lost

1. superlative degree of los

Anagrams

• slot, stol

German

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /loːst/

Verb

lost

1. inflection of losen:
   1. second/third-person singular present
   2. second-person plural present
   3. plural imperative

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English lost.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔst/

Adjective

lost (strong nominative masculine singular loster, not comparable)

1. (slang) clueless, confused; lost; vain

Further reading

• “lost” in Duden online
• “lost” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Icelandic

Noun

lost n (genitive singular losts, nominative plural lost)

1. shock

Declension

declension of lost

n-s	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	lost	lostið	lost	lostin
accusative	lost	lostið	lost	lostin
dative	losti	lostinu	lostum	lostunum
genitive	losts	lostsins	losta	lostanna

Derived terms

• raflost

Further reading

• “lost” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)