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launch²

(lônch, länch)

1. A large ship's boat.

2. A large, open motorboat.

[Alteration (possibly influenced by LAUNCH¹) of Early Modern English lanch, ultimately (possibly partly via Spanish lancha) from Portuguese lancha, perhaps alteration of lancara, a kind of small swift Asian oared boat, from Malay lancaran : lancar, swift + -an, nominalizing suffix.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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