lamb

See also: Lamb

English

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /læm/
  • (æ-tensing) IPA^(key): [leəm]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æm

Noun

lamb (countable and uncountable, plural lambs or (both dialectal) lamber or lambren)

2. A young sheep.

   Mary had a little lamb, its fleece as white as snow.

   Synonym: sheepling

3. (obsolete) A young goat; a kid.
   • 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:”
5. (uncountable) The flesh of a lamb or sheep used as food.

   Hypernym: meat

6. (figuratively) A person who is meek, docile and easily led.
7. Lambskin.
   • 1934, Kay Boyle, My Next Bride, Virago, published 1986, page 8:

     They were as alike as prisoners, dressed in black silk waists and fitted skirts, with shawls of crimped black lamb across their shoulders.

8. A simple, unsophisticated person.
9. (finance, slang) One who ignorantly speculates on the stock exchange and is victimized.
10. (slang) A fan of American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer Mariah Carey (born 1969).

    Holonym: Lambily

    Alternative form: Lamb

    • 2003, Bust, page 88:

      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.

    • 2010 February 15, Greg Kot, “Mimi cuts loose: Mariah Carey concert at Chicago Theatre shows that the diva can laugh at herself”, in Chicago Tribune, 163rd year, number 46, section 3, page 6:

      Her latest album, “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel,” is her best work yet, a warmer and more subtle album that makes her more relatable to those of us who aren’t Mariah die-hards—or “lambs,” as she refers to them.

    • 2019 January 3, Rich Juzwiak, “In Praise of Their Diva”, in The New York Times, section D, page 1:

      This year, Ms. Carey debuted a new Las Vegas revue, and, to celebrate, a group of 36 “lambs,” mostly in their 30s and 40s, boarded a party bus and cruised the Vegas strip for about three hours.

    • 2020 February 25, Chris Azzopardi, “I Love You (But Do You Love Mariah Carey?)”, in The New York Times‎:

      But when I saw Mariah in Detroit last year during the Caution World Tour, I was a proud lamb in my tour T-shirt, my very adult body suddenly transformed into my 14-year-old self when she emerged onstage.

    • 2022, “Mariah Carey releases her exclusive Pride merchandise”, in WRMF‎:

      Pride Month begins June 1, and Mariah Carey is giving her lambs plenty of new clothes to celebrate.

    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:lamb.

Derived terms

• baa-lamb, bar-lamb
• beaver lamb
• ewe lamb
• gentle as a lamb
• house lamb
• in-lamb
• in lamb
• in like a lion, out like a lamb
• innocent as a lamb
• in two shakes of a lamb's tail
• lamb-ale
• lambchop
• lamb down
• lamber
• Lambeth
• lambfold
• lamb fries
• lambhood
• lambie
• lambiness
• lambing
• lambing season
• lambish
• lambkill
• lambkin
• lambless
• lamblike
• lambling
• lamb of Tartary
• lamb pie
• lamb's bread
• lamb's cress
• lamb's ears
• lambsfoot
• lamb's fries
• lambskin
• lamb's lettuce
• lambsquarters
• lamb's quarters
• lamb's tongue
• lamb succory
• lambswool
• lamb to the slaughter, like a lamb to the slaughter, come like a lamb to the slaughter, as a lamb to the slaughter
• lamburger
• lamby
• March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb
• Mongolian lamb
• mutton dressed as lamb, mutton dressed up as lamb
• one may as well hang for a sheep as a lamb
• Paschal Lamb, paschal lamb
• Persian lamb
• sacrificial lamb
• Scythian lamb
• skin the lamb
• spider lamb syndrome
• spring lamb
• Tartarian lamb
• tod and lambs
• vegetable lamb

Translations

young sheep

Abkhaz: а-сы́с f (a-sə́s), а-ҭсы́с m (a-tsə́s) Adyghe: шъынэ (ŝənɛ) Albanian: qengj (sq), bec (sq), sheleg (sq), rrunë (sq) Arabic: حَمَل (ar) m (ḥamal), خَرُوف m (ḵarūf) Egyptian Arabic: أُوزي m (ʔūzī) Moroccan Arabic: خروف m (ḵrūf), خروفة f (ḵrūfa), نعجة f (naʕja), حولي m (ḥawli) South Levantine Arabic: خروف m (ḵarūf), حَمَل m (ḥamal) Armenian: գառ (hy) (gaṙ) Old Armenian: գառն (gaṙn) Aromanian: njel m, njauã f, njioarã f Asturian: corderu (ast) m Avar: къегӏер (qxʼeʻer) Azerbaijani: quzu (az) Bakhtiari: بره (bare) Bashkir: бәрәс (bərəs) Basque: arkume (eu) n Bats: ბოტ (boṭ), ბოჰ̡ (boh̡), ჩუჲხი̂ (čuyxî) Belarusian: ягня́ n (jahnjá), ягнё n (jahnjó), бара́нчык m (baránčyk) Breton: oan (br) m Bulgarian: а́гне (bg) n (ágne) Burmese: သိုးကလေး (my) (sui:ka.le:) Buryat: хурьган (xurʹgan) Catalan: xai (ca) m, anyell (ca), corder (ca) m, be (ca) m Chechen: ӏахар (ˀaxar) Chinese: Mandarin: 羊羔 (zh) (yánggāo), 羔 (zh) (gāo), 羔羊 (zh) (gāoyáng) Chuvash: путек (put̬ek) Classical Nahuatl: ichcaconētl Cornish: on m Crimean Tatar: qozu Czech: jehně (cs) n, beránek (cs) m Dalmatian: anjial m, sugol m Danish: lam (da) n Dutch: lam (nl) n, lammetje (nl) n Esperanto: ŝafido (eo) Estonian: tall (et) Faroese: lamb n Finnish: karitsa (fi) French: agneau (fr) m, agnelle (fr) f Old French: agniau m Friulian: agnel m Galician: año (gl) m, rexelo (gl) m, neixente m, cordeiro (gl) m, andosco m, carruxo m, añagota f Georgian: ბატკანი (baṭḳani), კრავი (ḳravi) German: Lamm (de) n Gothic: 𐍅𐌹𐌸𐍂𐌿𐍃 m (wiþrus), 𐌻𐌰𐌼𐌱 n (lamb) Greek: αρνί (el) n (arní) Ancient: ἀμνός m (amnós), ἀρήν m (arḗn) Greenlandic: savaaraq Hebrew: טָלֶה (he) m (talé), שֶׂה (he) m (se) Hindi: बर्रा (hi) m (barrā), मेमना (hi) m (memnā) Hungarian: bárány (hu) Icelandic: lamb (is) n Ido: (♂♀) mutonyuno (io), (♂) mutonyunulo, (♀) mutonyunino Indonesian: anak domba (id), cempe (id) Ingrian: voonna, karitsa Ingush: ӏаьхарг (ˀäxarg) Irish: uan (ga) m Old Irish: úan m Italian: agnello (it) m, (newborn) agnellino (it) m, agnella (it) f Japanese: 子羊 (ja) (こひつじ, kohitsuji), 小羊 (ja) (こひつじ, kohitsuji), ラム (ja) (ramu) Javanese: ꦕꦼꦩ꧀ꦥꦺ (jv) (cempé) Kabardian: щынэ (kbd) (śənɛ) Kalmyk: хурһн (xurğn) Kashmiri: چھِرٕ (chirụ) Korean: 어린양 (eorinyang) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: بەرخ (berx) Laki: وەرک (ku) (werk), ڤەرک (ku) (verk) Northern Kurdish: berx (ku) Southern Kurdish: وەرک (ku) (werk) Ladino: kodrero Latin: agnus (la) m, agnellus (la) m Latvian: jērs m Laz: მჩხუიში თიკანი (mçxuişi tiǩani) Lithuanian: ėriukas (lt) m Livonian: ūoņki Low German: Lamm (nds) n, Schaaplamm n, Schooplamm n, Bählamm n, (♂) Bucklamm n, (♀) Aulamm n Macedonian: јагне n (jagne) Malay: anak biri-biri Maltese: ħaruf m Manx: eayn m Maori: reme Marathi: कोकरू n (kokrū) Mariupol Greek: арны́ n (arný) Mazanderani: ورکا (varkā) Megleno-Romanian: ńel m Mi'kmaq: jijgluewji'j anim Mingrelian: კირიბი (ḳiribi) Mongolian: хурга (mn) (xurga) Navajo: dibé yázhí Norman: angné m Norwegian: lam (no) n Occitan: anhèl (oc) m, anhèla (oc) f Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: агнѧ n (agnę), агньць m (agnĭcĭ) Old East Slavic: агньць m (agnĭcĭ), ꙗгнѧ n (jagnę), агнѧ n (agnę) Old English: lamb (ang) n Old Norse: lamb n Ossetian: уӕрыкк (wærykk), далыс (dalys) Ottoman Turkish: قوزی (kuzu, kuzı) Persian: بره (fa) (barre, bare) Polabian: jogną n Polish: jagnię (pl) n, baranek (pl) m Portuguese: anho (pt) m, cordeiro (pt) m Punjabi: ਲੇਲਾ (pa) m (lelā) Romanian: miel (ro) m, mioară (ro) f, mia (ro) f Romansch: agnè m, tschut m Russian: ягнёнок (ru) m (jagnjónok), а́гнец (ru) m (ágnec) (archaic, biblical), бара́шек (ru) m (barášek) Sardinian: angione m, anzone m, bitti Saterland Frisian: Loum n Scots: lammie Scottish Gaelic: uan m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: јагње n (Bosnian, Serbian), јање n (Croatian) Roman: jagnje (sh) n (Bosnian, Serbian), janje (sh) n (Croatian) Sicilian: agneddu (scn) m Slovak: jahňa n, baránok m Slovene: jágnje (sl) n Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: jagnje n Spanish: cordero (es) m Svan: ჟინაღ (žinaɣ) Swahili: mwanakondoo (sw) Swedish: lamm (sv) n Tagalog: kordero (tl) Talysh: və Taos: kʼùoʼȕʼúna Tarifit: izmar m Tat: vərə Turkish: kuzu (tr) Ugaritic: 𐎛𐎎𐎗 (ỉmr) Ukrainian: ягня́ (uk) n (jahnjá), ягня́тко (uk) n (jahnjátko), бара́нчик (uk) m (baránčyk) Uyghur: پاقلان (paqlan) Venetan: agneło m, agnel, gnel, ciot m, gnelot m Vietnamese: cừu con, cừu non Volapük: (♂♀) jipül (vo), (♂) hijipül, (♀) jijipül, (diminutive ♂♀) jipülil (vo), (obsolete) liäm, (obsolete) smajip, (unweaned ♂♀) sugajipül, (unweaned ♂) sugahijipül, (unweaned ♀) sugajijipül Votic: talli, võdnõ Walloon: bedot (wa) m, agnea (wa) m Welsh: oen (cy) m West Frisian: lamme n Wolof: mbote mi (wo) Yakut: бараан оҕото (baraan oğoto) Yiddish: לאַם n (lam) Zazaki: kavırek, kavır (diq)

flesh of lamb as food

Albanian: please add this translation if you can Arabic: لَحْم اَلضَّأْن m (laḥm aḍ-ḍaʔn), خَرُوف m (ḵarūf) Egyptian Arabic: ضاني f (ḍānī) Moroccan Arabic: غنمي m (ḡanmi) South Levantine Arabic: خروف m (ḵarūf) Asturian: corderu (ast) m Belarusian: ягня́ціна f (jahnjácina) Bulgarian: агнешко n (agneško) Burmese: သိုးသား (my) (sui:sa:) Catalan: xai (ca) m Chinese: Cantonese: 羊肉 (joeng4 juk6) Mandarin: 羊肉 (zh) (yángròu) Czech: jehněčí (cs) n Danish: lammekød (da) n Dutch: lam (nl) n, lamsvlees (nl) n Esperanto: ŝafidaĵo Finnish: karitsa (fi), karitsanliha French: agneau (fr) m Georgian: ბატკნის ხორცი (baṭḳnis xorci) German: Lamm (de) n, Lammfleisch (de) n Greek: αρνί (el) n (arní) Hebrew: טָלֶה (he) m (talé), כֶּבֶשׂ (he) m (kéves) Hungarian: bárányhús (hu) Icelandic: lambakjöt (is) n, lamb (is) n Ido: mutonyunokarno Irish: uaineoil f Italian: agnello (it) m Japanese: ラム (ja) (ramu), 羊肉 (ja) (ようにく, yōniku) Korean: 양고기 (ko) (yanggogi) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: گۆشتی بەرخ (goştî berx) Latin: agnina f Maltese: ħaruf m Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: Bokmål: lammekjøtt n Nynorsk: lammekjøt n, lammekjøtt n Ottoman Turkish: قوزی (kuzu, kuzı) Persian: گوسفند (fa) (gusfand) Polish: jagnięcina (pl) f Portuguese: cordeiro (pt) m Romanian: miel (ro) m Russian: бара́нина (ru) f (baránina), ягня́тина (ru) f (jagnjátina) Scottish Gaelic: feòil-uain f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: јагњетина f Roman: jagnjetina (sh) f Slovene: jágnjetina, jagnjetína f Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: jagnjece měso, jagnjeśina f Spanish: cordero (es) m, carne de cordero f Swedish: lamm (sv) n, lammkött (sv) n Tagalog: tupa (tl) Turkish: kuzu (tr) Tuvan: хураган (xuragan) Ukrainian: ягня́тина (uk) f (jahnjátyna) Welsh: cig oen m

meek person

Basque: bildots (eu) Chinese: Cantonese: 羔羊 (gou1 joeng4) Mandarin: 羔羊 (zh) (gāoyáng) Finnish: lammas (fi) Greek: αρνάκι (el) n (arnáki) Hebrew: שֶׂה (he) m (se) Portuguese: cordeiro (pt) m Romanian: mielușel (ro) m Russian: овца́ (ru) f (ovcá), ове́чка (ru) f (ovéčka), ягнёнок (ru) m (jagnjónok), а́гнец (ru) m (ágnec) Spanish: borrego (es) m, borrega (es) f Turkish: kuzu (tr)

Verb

lamb (third-person singular simple present lambs, present participle lambing, simple past and past participle lambed)

1. (intransitive) Of a sheep, to give birth.
2. (transitive or intransitive) To assist (sheep) to give birth.

   The shepherd was up all night, lambing her young ewes.

Translations

of a sheep, to give birth

Bulgarian: обагням се (obagnjam se) Danish: læmme Dutch: lammeren (nl) Finnish: karitsoida (fi) French: mettre bas (fr) Old English: ēanian Turkish: kuzulamak (tr) Welsh: wyna (cy)

to assist sheep to give birth

Finnish: karitsoittaa

Anagrams

• ALBM, BAML, BLAM, LBMA, balm, blam

Faroese

Etymology

From Old Norse lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz.

Noun

lamb n (genitive singular lambs, plural lomb)

1. lamb (both the animal and meat)
2. kid (baby goat)
3. (playing cards, stýrivolt) seven of the chosen cards (trump seven)

Declension

Declension of lamb (n8)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	lamb	lambið	lomb	lombini
accusative	lamb	lambið	lomb	lombini
dative	lambi	lambinum	lombum	lombunum
genitive	lambs	lambsins	lamba	lambanna

Derived terms

• gimburlamb (female lamb)
• veðurlamb (male lamb)

Gothic

Romanization

lamb

1. romanization of 𐌻𐌰𐌼𐌱

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lamp/
• Rhymes: -amp

Noun

lamb n (genitive singular lambs, nominative plural lömb)

1. a lamb

Declension

Declension of lamb (neuter)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	lamb	lambið	lömb	lömbin
accusative	lamb	lambið	lömb	lömbin
dative	lambi	lambinu	lömbum	lömbunum
genitive	lambs	lambsins	lamba	lambanna

Derived terms

• launa lambið gráa
• ljúfur sem lamb
• vatna lömbum (compare the Old Norse krjúpa at keldu)

Middle English

Alternative forms

• lom, lomb, loomb
• lambe, lame, lamme, lombe (mainly Late Middle English)
• loumbe (West Midlands)

Etymology

From Old English lamb, from Proto-West Germanic *lamb, from Proto-Germanic *lambaz.

Pronunciations with Old English lengthening before /mb/ were probably less common than in comb, womb due to levelling from the plural lambre, lambren, where such lengthening did not occur (though the spellings lamb in the Ormulum and loomb in the Wycliffite Bible indicate an unlevelled form with lengthening).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lam(b)/, /laːm(b)/, /lɔm(b)/, /lɔːm(b)/

Noun

lamb (plural lambren or lambre or lambes)

1. A lamb, its meat, or its skin.
2. (figuratively) A Christian believer.

Descendants

• English: lamb
• Scots: lam, lamb
• Yola: lhawm, lowem

References

• “lō̆mb, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• Jordan, Richard (1974),  Eugene Crook, transl., Handbook of the Middle English Grammar: Phonology (Janua Linguarum. Series Practica; 218)‎, The Hague: Mouton & Co. N.V., →DOI, § 31, page 52: “Before mb the length is retained in comb /kɔːmb/, womb /wɔːmb/ (Northern cāmb, wāmb); lam(b) retained the shortness from the pl. lambru”.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse lamb.

Noun

lamb n (definite singular lambet, definite singular dative lambe, indefinite plural lamb or lomb, definite plural lambi or lombi, definite plural dative lambom or lombom)

1. a lamb (young sheep); (pre-1938) alternative form of lam
2. (by extension, Christianity, figurative) Christ as sacrificial lamb

Inflection

Historical inflection of lamb

		singular		plural
		indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
Aasen1		Lamb	Lambet	Lomb	Lombi
1901		lamb	lambet (lambe)	lamb	lambi
1938		lam

• Forms in italics are currently considered non-standard.
• Forms in [brackets] were official, but considered second-tier.
• Forms in (parentheses) were allowed under Midlandsnormalen.
• ¹Nouns were capitalised for most of the 19th century.

Derived terms

• lambekjøt
• påskelamb (“Passover lamb, Paschal Lamb”)

Old English

Alternative forms

• lemb, lomb, lomber

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *lambaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑmb/

Noun

lamb n (nominative plural lambru)

1. lamb

Declension

West Saxon: Strong z-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	lamb	lambru
accusative	lamb	lambru
genitive	lambes	lambra
dative	lambe	lambrum

Anglian:

	singular	plural
nominative	lomb	lombur, lomberu
accusative	lomb	lombur, lomberu
genitive	lombur	lombra
dative	lombur	lombrum

Descendants

• Middle English: lamb, lomb, lambe
  • English: lamb
  • Scots: lam, lamb

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *lamb, see also Old Saxon lamb, Old English lamb, Old Norse lamb, Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌼𐌱 (lamb).

Noun

lamb n

1. lamb

Declension

Declension of lamb

	singular	plural
nominative	lamb	lembir
accusative	lamb	lembir
genitive	lambes	lembiro
dative	lambe	lembirum, lembirom
instrumental	lambu, lambo	lembirum, lembirom

Descendants

• Middle High German: lamp, lam
  • Cimbrian: lamp
  • German: Lamm
  • Luxembourgish: Lamm
  • Vilamovian: łamm
  • Yiddish: לאַם (lam)

References

• Köbler, Gerhard, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014
• Joseph Wright, An Old High German Primer, Second Edition

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *lambaz.

Noun

lamb n (genitive lambs, plural lǫmb)

1. a lamb

Declension

Declension of lamb (strong a-stem)

neuter	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	lamb	lambit	lǫmb	lǫmbin
accusative	lamb	lambit	lǫmb	lǫmbin
dative	lambi	lambinu	lǫmbum	lǫmbunum
genitive	lambs	lambsins	lamba	lambanna

Descendants

• Icelandic: lamb
• Faroese: lamb
• Norn: lamb
• Norwegian Nynorsk: lamb, lam; (dialectal) låm
• Old Swedish: lamb
  • Swedish: lamm, lamb
• Old Danish: lamb
  • Danish: lam
    • Norwegian Bokmål: lam
• Gutnish: lamb
• Scanian: lǫm

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *lamb.

Noun

lamb n

1. lamb

Declension

lamb (z-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	lamb	lambiru
accusative	lamb	lambiru
genitive	lambes	lambirō
dative	lambe	lambirum
instrumental	—	—

Descendants

• Low German: Lamm