lame

See also lamé

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /leɪm/, X-SAMPA: /leIm/
• Rhymes: -eɪm

Etymology 1

From Old English lama, from the Proto-Germanic *lama-, from Proto-Indo-European *lem- (“to crush; fragile”). Akin to German lahm and Dutch lam, Old Norse lami, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian lam, akin to Old Church Slavonic ломити (lomiti, “to break”).

Adjective

lame (comparative lamer, superlative lamest)

1. Unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs.
2. Moving with pain or difficulty on account of injury, defect or temporary obstruction of a function.

   a lame leg, arm or muscle

3. (by extension) Hobbling; limping; inefficient; imperfect.
4. (slang) Unconvincing or unbelievable.

   He had a really lame excuse for missing the birthday party.

5. (slang) Failing to be cool, funny, interesting or relevant.

   He kept telling these extremely lame jokes all night.

Usage notes

Referring to a person without a disability as “lame” is offensive to many as it suggests a derogatory characterization to the physical condition from which the term was derived.

Synonyms

• (unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs): crippled
• (moving with difficulty):
• (by extension, hobbling): hobbling, limping, inefficient, imperfect
• (slang, unconvincing): unconvincing, unbelievable
• (slang, failing to be cool, funny, interesting, or relevant): uncool, unfunny, uninteresting, irrelevant

Antonyms

• (unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs):
• (moving with difficulty):
• (by extension, hobbling): efficient, perfect
• (slang, unconvincing): convincing, believable
• (slang, failing to be cool, funny, interesting, or relevant): cool, funny, interesting, relevant

Derived terms

• lame duck
• lamage
• lamebrain
• lamely
• lameness
• lamestream
• lame-o

Translations

unable to walk properly because of a problem with one's feet or legs

• Arabic: أعرج (ar) (ʾáʿrax)
• Armenian: կաղ (hy) (kał)
• Belarusian: кульгавы (be) (kulʹhávy)
• Bulgarian: куц (bg) (kuc)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瘸腿 (cmn) (quétuǐ), 跛 (cmn) (bǒ), 跛足 (cmn) (bǒzú), 瘸 (cmn) (qué)

• Czech: chromý (cs) m
• Danish: lam (da)
• Dutch: lam (nl), verlamd (nl), kreupel (nl), mank (nl)
• Finnish: rampa (fi)
• French: boiteux (fr) m, boiteuse (fr) f
• German: lahm (de)
• Greek: χωλός (el) (cholós) m, κουτσός (el) (koutsós) m
• Hungarian: sánta (hu)
• Italian: zoppo (it)
• Japanese: 足の不自由な (ja) (あしのふじゆうな, ashi-no fujiyū-na), 足の悪い (ja) (あしのわるい, ashi-no warui)

• Lithuanian: luošas (lt) m, šlubas (lt) m
• Luxembourgish: schlamm (lb)
• Macedonian: куц (mk) (kuc)
• Maori: tahakopa (mi), hauā (mi), waehauā (mi)
• Neapolitan: sciancato
• Polish: kulawy (pl), kulejący (pl)
• Portuguese: manco (pt), perneta (pt), coxo (pt) (Brasil), capenga (pt) (Brasil)
• Romanian: schiop (ro) m, olog (ro) m
• Russian: хромой (ru) (xromój), хромающий (ru) (xromájuščij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хром (sh)

  Roman: hrom (sh)

• Slovak: chromý (sk)
• Spanish: cojo (es), rengo (es) (Argentina, Uruguay)
• Swedish: lam (sv)
• Ukrainian: кульгавий (uk) (kulʹhávyj)
• West Frisian: mank (fy)

moving with difficulty

• Arabic: أعرج (ar) (arag) m
• Dutch: kreupel, mankend
• Finnish: heikko (fi), rampa (fi)
• Greek: χωλός (el) (cholós) m, κουτσός (el) (koutsós) m

• Hungarian: nyomorék (hu), béna (hu)
• Romanian: handicapat (ro) m, schiopatand (ro)
• Russian: искалеченный (ru) (iskaléčennyj), увечный (ru) (uvéčnyj)

by extension, hobbling

• Dutch: wankel, mankend
• Finnish: ontuva (fi), heikko (fi)
• Hungarian: sántikáló (hu)

• Maori: totitoti (mi)
• Portuguese: capenga (pt)
• Russian: хромающий (ru) (xromájuščij)

slang, unconvincing

• Czech: chabý (cs) m
• Dutch: flauw (nl)
• Finnish: heikko (fi), huono (fi), tyhmä (fi), ontuva (fi)
• French: boîteux (fr), pitoyable (fr), nul (fr) m, bancal (fr) m
• Greek: αστήρικτος (el) (astíriktos) m, αστείος (el) (asteíos) m

• Hungarian: átlátszó (hu)
• Polish: słaby, nieprzekonywujący m, kiepski (pl) m
• Romanian: jalnic (ro) m, slab (ro) m, lipsit de gust (ro) m
• Russian: слабый (ru) (slábyj), неубедительный (ru) (neubedítel'nyj)

slang, failing to be cool, funny, interesting or relevant

• Danish: lamt (da)
• Dutch: flauw (nl)
• Estonian: nõme (et)
• Finnish: typerä (fi), tyhmä (fi), ontuva (fi)
• French: nul (fr), (slang, France) naze (fr) m and f, (Quebec, informal) poche (fr)
• Hungarian: béna (hu)

• Japanese: ださださ (ja) (dasadasa), 寒い (ja) (samui)
• Polish: kiepski (pl) m
• Romanian: anost (ro) m, plictisitor (ro) m, sters (ro) m
• Spanish: (Mexico) chafa (es)
• Turkish: geyik (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: çalë
• Catalan: coix
• Serbo-Croatian: hrom
• Esperanto: paralizata
• French: boiteux; nul, minable
• German: lahm (2)
• Hindi: अपंग (apanga)

• Italian: storpio
• Marathi: अपंग (apanga)
• Romanian: șchiop, olog
• Sanskrit: अपङगः (apangaha), पङगु (pangu)
• Scottish Gaelic: bacach, crùbach, cuagach
• Spanish: cojo, rengo

Verb

lame (third-person singular simple present lames, present participle laming, simple past and past participle lamed)

1. (transitive) to cause a person or animal to become lame
   • 1877, Anna Sewell, Black Beauty: And if you don't want to lame your horse you must look sharp and get them [stones stuck in hooves] out quickly.
   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 6

     Now her soul felt lamed in itself. It was her hope that was struck.

Translations

to cause a person or animal to become lame

• Polish: kuleć

• Russian: калечить (ru) (kalečitʹ), увечить (ru) (uvečitʹ)

Etymology 2

From Middle French lame, from Latin lamina.

Noun

lame (plural lames)

1. A lamina.
2. (in the plural) A set of joined, overlapping metal plates.

Related terms

• lamé

Etymology 3

Verb

lame (third-person singular simple present lames, present participle laming, simple past and past participle lamed)

1. (obsolete) To shine.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Piers Plowman to this entry?)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

Anagrams

• amel, Elam, Elma, leam, lema, male, Malé, meal

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Estonian

Adjective

lame (^??? please provide the genitive and partitive!)

1. flat

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /lam/

• Audio (Canada, Montréal)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -am
• Homophone: lames

Noun

lame f (plural lames)

1. lamina
2. blade
3. wave

Related terms

• lamé m
• lamer
• lamellaire
• lamelle
• laminer
• lamineur m

Anagrams

• mâle, mêla

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German

Etymology

From the English adjective lame.

Adjective

lame

1. (slang) boring; unimpressive
2. (slang) unskilled; useless

   Ich wollte nicht sagen, dass das was die machen total lame ist.

   I didn’t want to say that what they are doing is totally lame.

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Italian

Noun

lame f

1. Plural form of lama

Anagrams

• alme, male, mela

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Old French

Noun

lame f (oblique plural lames, nominative singular lame, nominative plural lames)

1. blade (of a weapon)

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Spanish

Verb

lame (infinitive lamer)

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of lamer.

   ¡Lame! — “Lick!”

2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of lamer.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of lamer.

   Lame. — “[He/she/it] licks.”

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Swedish

Adjective

lame

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of lam.