Meaning

adjective lacking in rigor or strictness

adjective pronounced with muscles of the tongue and jaw relatively relaxed (e.g., the vowel sound in `bet')

adjective lacking in strength or firmness or resilience

originFrom Middle English lax, from Old English leax (“salmon”), from Proto-West Germanic *lahs (“salmon”), from Proto-Germanic *lahsaz (“salmon”), from Proto-Indo-European *laḱs- (“salmon, trout”). Cognate with Middle Dutch lacks, lachs, lasche (“salmon”), Middle Low German las (“salmon”), German Lachs (“salmon”), Norwegian laks (“salmon”), Danish laks (“salmon”), Swedish lax (“salmon”), Icelandic lax…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0