shamble
/ˈʃeə̯mbəl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.62 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "His awkward stagger is due to his shamble legs."
- "I wasn't too impressed with the fellow, when he shambled in unenthusiastically and an hour late."
- "The old black, not in any very high glee at having been previously roused from his warm hammock at a most unseasonable hour, came shambling along from his galley, for, like many old blacks, there was something the matter with his knee-pans, which he did not keep well scoured like his other pans; [...]"
Etymology
From Middle English schambyll, shamyll, schamel, from Old English sċeamol, scamol (“bench, stool”), from Proto-West Germanic *skamul, *skamil, from Proto-Germanic *skamulaz, *skamilaz, from Latin scamellum, a variant of scabellum (“footstool”). Cognate with West Frisian skammel (“shamble, trestle, stool", also (in the plural) "legs, especially when showing defects or deformities”), Dutch schemel (“footstool, bench”), German Schemel (“stool”), Danish skammel (“stool”). Icelandic skemill (“footstool”). The verb is probably derived from the adjective, itself from attributive use of the noun. Compare West Frisian skammelje (“to walk with a swaying gait, especially on deformed legs”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: schambyll, sċeamol, *skamul, *skamulaz, scamellum
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈʃeə̯mbəl/