lemming

See also: lèmming and Lemming

English

Wikispecies

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Norwegian, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Norse lómundr (“lemming”), perhaps from (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  luomek

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɛm.ɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɛmɪŋ

Noun

lemming (plural lemmings)

1. A small Arctic and Subarctic rodent from any of six genera of similar rodents.
   • 1876, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Geographical Distribution of Animals, chapter 2, page 18:

     The well-known lemmings, in severe winters, at long intervals, move down from the mountains of Scandinavia in immense numbers, crossing lakes and rivers, eating their way through haystacks, and surmounting every obstacle till they reach the sea, whence very few return.
2. (figuratively) Any member of a group given to conformity or groupthink, especially a group poised to follow a leader off a cliff.
   • 2004, Ilse Hobbs, Jan Havenga, A Practical Guide to Strategy, →ISBN, page 127:

     Lemmings are strongly cohesive, but could be, in organisational terms, highly destructive for the business.

Derived terms

• bog lemmings, spp.
• collared lemmings, spp.
• steppe lemming,
• true lemmings, Lemmus spp.
• wood lemming,
• yellow steppe lemmings, spp.

Translations

rodent

• Catalan: lèmming m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 旅鼠 (zh) (lǚshǔ)

• Chukchi: гувчеԓкаԓгын (guvčeḷkaḷgyn)
• Czech: lumík (cs) m
• Dutch: lemming (nl) m
• Esperanto: lemo
• Estonian: lemming (et)
• Faroese: læmingi m
• Finnish: sopuli (fi)
• French: lemming (fr) m
• Georgian: ლემინგები (lemingebi)
• German: Lemming (de) m
• Hawaiian: ʻawinaka
• Icelandic: læmingi m
• Ido: lemingo (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Inuktitut: ᐊᕕᙵᖅ (afinngaq)
• Japanese: レミング (remingu), 旅鼠 (タビネズミ, tabinezumi)
• Kazakh: леммингтер (lemmiñter)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lemen (no) n

  Nynorsk: lemen n

• Old Norse: lómundr
• Polish: leming (pl) m
• Portuguese: lêmingue (pt) m, lémingue m
• Romanian: leming (ro) m
• Russian: ле́мминг (ru) m (lémming), пестру́шка (ru) f (pestrúška)
• Slovene: léming m
• Southern Sami: sluemege, luemege
• Spanish: lemming m
• Swedish: lämmel (sv) c
• Tibetan: འགྲུལ་བྱི། ('grul byi)

member of a group given to conformity or groupthink

• Finnish: laumasielu, sopuli (fi)
• French: mouton de Panurge (fr) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: leming (pl) m, wyznawca (pl) m

---

Dutch

Pronunciation

• audio:

  (file)

Noun

lemming m (plural lemmingen or lemmings, diminutive lemminkje n)

1. lemming (rodent)

Anagrams

• glimmen

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɛ.miŋ/ ~ /le.miŋ/

Noun

lemming m (plural lemmings)

1. lemming

Further reading

• “lemming”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

---

Portuguese

Noun

lemming m (plural s)

1. Alternative form of lémingue

---

Spanish

Noun

lemming m (plural lemmings)

1. lemming (rodent)