Lame

How to spell lame

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce lame

What does lame mean?

1. adjectiveUnable to walk normally because of an injury or weakness in a leg or foot.
2. adjectiveWeak, unconvincing or disappointing, especially of an excuse or attempt.

Lame in a sentence

• The horse went lame after stumbling on the rocky trail.

• His lame excuse for missing the deadline convinced nobody at the office.

• A torn muscle left him lame for several weeks.

• The marketing campaign felt lame and failed to attract new customers.

Where does lame come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends directly from the Old English lama, which meant 'crippled', 'paralysed' or 'unable to move a limb properly', and it belongs to the native Germanic core of English rather than to any classical borrowing. The same ancestor produced cognates across the Germanic family, including the Dutch lam and the German lahm, all carrying the sense of a stiff or useless limb. For most of its history the word described a literal physical impairment, especially of the leg or foot, which is why it was so often paired with horses and walking. The informal modern sense, meaning weak, unconvincing or feeble (as in a poor excuse), grew out of the older idea of something that limps along or fails to perform, and that figurative use became widespread in the twentieth century. Because the spelling is short and entirely regular, the only thing to remember is the silent final 'e' that keeps the long 'a' sound.

How the word is built

• lame (single root from Old English lama 'crippled, paralysed'); no prefix or suffix