lackey

American  

[lak-ee] / ˈlæk i /

Or lacquey

noun

plural

lackeys

1. a servile follower; toady.

2. a footman or liveried manservant.

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verb (used with object)

lackeyed, lackeying

1. to attend as a lackey does.

lackey British  

/ ˈlækɪ /

noun

1. a servile follower; hanger-on

2. a liveried male servant or valet

3. a person who is treated like a servant

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verb

1. to act as a lackey (to)

Other Word Forms

• unlackeyed adjective

Etymology

Origin of lackey

1520–30; < Middle French laquais, perhaps < Catalan lacayo, alacayo < ?

Explanation

A lackey is someone who works for someone else and tries to get ahead by kissing up to his superiors. For example, a lackey might carry his employer's luggage or fetch her cappuccinos. A lackey can also be a servant who wears a uniform, like a butler, doorman, or valet. Only the richest, grandest, snobbiest families employ lackeys these days. Another name for a lackey is a manservant, who works in a private home serving the needs of his employer — like a maid, but male. From this earliest meaning came the sense of lackey as a "toady" or "sycophant," someone who fawns and flatters in order to get what they want. The word stems from the Middle French laquais, "foot soldier" or "servant."

Example Sentences

“Flummoxed by the lack of resources”—in other words, aware that a penniless Uganda needed to reform or collapse—he “comfortably settled” into the role of Western lackey.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 15, 2025

“Tell the brother he can stay, but he’s working for us,” Boy Kavalier tells a lackey, characterizing that instruction as “just a reminder that it’s my world. He just lives in it.”

From Salon • Aug. 31, 2025

It was an unwelcome reminder of the lingering perception that the island nation somehow remains Moscow’s financial lackey.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 8, 2023

Caliban, Prospero’s malformed lackey, has been reclaimed by postcolonial critics as an example of an oppressed “other,” an enslaved man whose dignity has been denied by European imperialists.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 28, 2023

“Flooffee-Fyr! Who could’ve imagined that simpering lackey would have the guts to betray me? I respect him now, yes! But he shall taste my REVENGE!”

From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth