lackey

American  

[lak-ee] / ˈlæk i /

Or lacquey

noun

plural

lackeys

1. a servile follower; toady.

2. a footman or liveried manservant.

---

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

---

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

At the time, nearly a third of the country’s 68 billion euros in deposits — more than triple the entire economy — was held by Russians, feeding the perception that Cyprus was Moscow’s financial lackey.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 20, 2023

That she and Franklyn task themselves with rewriting the copy instead of simply asking some lackey on the marketing team to request a less geriatric word for “suppository” is a colossal waste of their time.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2023

“And now that you’re an Erudite lackey, you can’t call me ‘Stiff.’

From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth