lamb
/ˈlæm/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.02 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The flesh of a lamb used as food; (sometimes loosely) the flesh of a sheep of any age used as food.
Uncountable
noun
One who ignorantly speculates on the stock exchange and is victimized.
Countable; Slang; Uncountable
noun
A fan of American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer Mariah Carey (born 1969).
Countable; Slang; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Mary had a little lamb, its fleece as white as snow."
- "Mark and Mark have raised some lambs for market, and they won a blue ribbon for quality at the fair."
- "The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Exodus 12:5: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:”"
- "Near-synonym: sheep"
- "They were as alike as prisoners, dressed in black silk waists and fitted skirts, with shawls of crimped black lamb across their shoulders."
- "Part of me revels in the campiness of Mariah’s butterfly metaphors and puppies-and-kittens existence. […] But I also genuinely love her music, including this album. I’m one of her lambs."
Etymology
From Middle English lamb, from Old English lamb, from Proto-West Germanic *lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz, probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₁l̥h₁onbʰos, enlargement of *h₁elh₁én, ultimately from *h₁el-. See also Dutch lam, German Lamm, Bavarian Lamperl, Danish lam, Swedish lamm, Finnish lammas, Scottish Gaelic lon (“elk”), Ancient Greek ἔλαφος (élaphos, “red deer”). More at elk.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: lamb, *lamb, *lambaz, *h₁l̥h₁onbʰos, Ó Luain, agneau
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈlæm/
- British English: /ˈlæm/