vāks

Latvian

Etymology

From the same stem as the verb vākt (“to collect, to gather”): Proto-Baltic *vāk-, from Proto-Indo-European *wāk-, *wēk- (“to bend, to turn, to weave”), from a stem *wā- (“to move (away), to move so as to bend, turn”). The original meaning of the noun was thus “(something) woven”, from which “(woven) basket”, then “(basket) lid”, and finally “lid, cover”. Cognates include Lithuanian vókas (“eyelid; envelope; large woven basket”), Old Church Slavonic вѣко (věko), Russian ве́ко (véko, “eyelid”), dialectal also “eyelashes, basket lid, basket with lid”, Belarusian ве́ка (vjéka, “cover, lid”), Ukrainian ві́ко (víko, “eyelid, lid, cover”), Czech víko, Polish wieko.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

vāks m (1st declension)

1. lid, movable cover (to protect something)

   lādes, šķirsta, čemodāna vāks ― box, chest, suitcade lid

   atvāžams vāks ― movable lid

   muca ar vāku ― barrel with a lid

   motora vāks ― motor cover (= hood, bonnet)

   bagāžnieka vāks ― trunk lid

   pulksteņa vāks ― clock lid

   debesu, debess vāks ― the celestial vault (= sky)

   uzlikt kannai vāku ― to put a lid on the can, pot

   noņemt, atvērt vāku ― to remove, to open the lid

   katlam noņem vāku ― remove the lid from the pot

   būtu nepieciešams akai iztaisīt jaunu vāku ― it would be necessary to make a new lid for the well

2. book cover

   burtnīcu zilie vāki ― the notebook's blue covers

   attēls uz ābeces vāka ― a picture from the ABC book cover

   izlasīt no vāka līdz vākam ― to read (a book) from cover to cover

3. (only plural) folder, file (for documents, papers, etc.)

   aktu, dokumentu vāki ― paper, document folder

   iesiet, ielikt dokumentus vākos ― to put documents in(to) folders

Declension

Synonyms

• (of "folder, file"): mape

Derived terms

• acu vāks

References