What does lot mean?
Lot is most familiar from the informal phrase “a lot of,” meaning a large number or amount: there may be a lot of traffic, a lot of questions, or simply a lot to do. In this construction, “lot” is a noun, although it can be preceded by an article and followed by “of”; the plural “lots of” is also common. The word has several more specialized meanings. At an auction, a lot is an item or group of goods offered as a single unit. In legal and historical contexts, a lot can be an allotted share, portion, or piece of land. Literary expressions such as “cast one's lot” and “throw in one's lot” refer to committing oneself to a particular group, course, or destiny. Although the everyday quantity sense is informal, the word can also appear in formal property, commercial, and literary language. Its history illustrates how a word meaning “share” or “portion” gradually came to stand for an indefinitely large quantity.
A large or indefinite number or amount of people, things, or material; an individually offered auction item; an allotted share or piece of land; or, in literary usage, a person's fortune or chosen course.
"There is a lot of evidence to consider before reaching a conclusion."
The “large number or amount” sense is informal in the common construction “a lot of.” The auction, property, and literary senses are more formal or specialized.
To allot or assign a share to someone, or to divide property or other material into lots.
"The surveyors lot the land into three sections before the sale."
This verb is now archaic or formal and is rarely used in everyday speech.
Use “lots” for multiple auction items, shares, or portions. In the informal quantifier “lots of,” the plural is standard, whereas “a lot of” remains singular after the article.
"The auction offered 24 lots of furniture and decorative objects."
A “lot” once meant a small allotted share; centuries later, it became the everyday way to ask for a great deal.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does lot come from?
The word descends from Old English hlot, meaning a share or portion, and is cognate with Dutch lot and German Los, both also meaning a share or allotted portion. In Middle English, lot developed the sense of a portion assigned by chance or fortune and, later, the sense of a large number or amount. Its auction meaning arose from goods being divided or catalogued as individual portions or lots, while the now archaic verb meaning “assign by lot” developed directly from the older noun.
Related word forms
How lot is actually used
The quantifier “a lot of” is informal and is especially common in speech and informal writing. “Lots of” is similarly informal but often sounds slightly more emphatic. Auction, legal, and literary senses are more formal, while the senses involving building plots and parking spaces are especially common in American English. The verb is now largely archaic or formal.
Easily confused with lot
“Lot” is singular, whereas “lots” is its plural form, used for auction items or individual shares and informally in “lots of” to mean very many or much.
Despite their similar sound, “lot” and “lotus” have unrelated origins and meanings.