Lak (лакку маз, [lakːu maz]) is a Northeast Caucasian language forming its own branch within this family.

"[2] Lak has throughout the centuries adopted a number of loanwords from Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Russian.

[3] Ever since Dagestan was part of the Soviet Union and later Russia, the largest portion of loanwords have come from Russian, especially political and technical vocabulary.

This city should not be confused with the Kumyk ethnic group, a Turkic people also present in the Caucasus.

Lak has the following dialects: Kumukh, Vitskhi, Arakul, Balkhar, Shadni, Shalib, Vikhli, Kuli, and Kaya.

Initially Lak by lexicon was found to be close to Dargin and the two were often combined in one Lak–Dargin subgroup of Dagestani languages.