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Added 9 October 2026

lamb

/ˈlæm/ noun

In Latin: agnus, agnellus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about lamb at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A young sheep; especially, one younger than nine months.
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece as white as snow.
A young goat; a kid.
The flesh of a lamb used as food; the flesh of a sheep of any age used as food.

verb

Of a sheep, to give birth.
To assist (sheep) to give birth.
The shepherd was up all night, lambing her young ewes.

Origin

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.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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