Etymology

lame

L1A1M3E1

Today it means: Unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs. Full definition →

Middle English lame ← Old English lama ← Proto-West Germanic *lam
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

lame · adjective, verb, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₃lemH-“to tire; to break”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*lamaz“lame”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*lam
  4. Old English · inherited fromlama“lame”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromlame
  6. English todaylame

From Middle English lame, from Old English lama (“lame”), from Proto-West Germanic *lam, from Proto-Germanic *lamaz (“lame”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃lemH- (“to tire; to break”).

lame · noun2

  1. Latin · derived fromlāmina
  2. Middle French · derived fromlame
  3. English todaylame

From Middle French lame, from Latin lāmina. Doublet of lamina.

Words from the same roots

Latinlāmina all →

laminatelaminalames

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.