lemma
Syllables: lem·ma/ˈlɛmə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
pin pen merger/ˈlɪmə/
lemma noun: a proposition proved or accepted for immediate use in the proof of some other proposition.
Noun (1)
lemma (plural lemmas or lemmata)
- A proposition proved or accepted for immediate use in the proof of some other proposition.
- "We finally did it, but we found the proof very, very hard," he [Dr. John Conway] said. "I remember my wife and I spending one entire afternoon just working on some tiny little lemmas involved in the proof."1988 August 30, Malcolm W. Browne, “Intellectual Duel: Brash Challenge, Swift Response”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 23 Apr 2023
- A proposition originally used for such a purpose, but having later acquired a greater, independent, importance; a fundamental (often pithy) and widely-used result.
- The canonical form of an inflected word; i.e., the form usually found as the headword in a dictionary, such as the nominative singular of a noun, the bare infinitive of a verb, etc.
- Cat is a lemma, but cats is not.
- Holonym: lexeme (holonymous sense)
- Synonyms:
- lexeme
- The theoretical abstract conceptual form of a word, representing a specific meaning, before the creation of a specific phonological form as the sounds of a lexeme, which may find representation in a specific written form as a dictionary or lexicographic word.
Noun (2)
Proper noun capitalized: Lemma
Lemma
- A female given name.
lemma meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
lemma in Hindi
- mathematics: proposition used mainly in the proof of some other proposition
- प्रमेयिका prameyikā
lemma in Tamil
- துணைக்கோட்பாடு, முற்கோள், லெம்மா, வெளியுமி, பூச்செதில், ஒழுங்கான தனிச்சொல்
lemma in Bengali
- mathematics: proposition used mainly in the proof of some other proposition
- লেমা lema
- linguistics: canonical form of a term
- লেমা lema
lemma in Malayalam
- പ്രമേയിക
More languagesFewer languages
- lemma in Sinhala
- ලෙමා
- lemma in Arabic
- تَمْهِيدِيَّة tamhīdiyya, سُدَّة sudda, لِيمَّا līmmā
- lemma in Indonesian
- lema
- lemma in Persian
- مدخل madxal, بنواژه bon-vâže, پوشه puše, گلوم gelum
- lemma in Vietnamese
- mục từ
Examples of lemma in a sentence
- To prove the five lemma, just use a diagram chase.
- To prove the five lemma, just use diagram chasing.
- According to the Gauss lemma, the product of primitive polynomials is primitive.
Synonyms of lemma
Antonyms
Forms of lemma
| plural | lemmas |
|---|---|
| plural | lemmata |
Origin of lemma
Borrowed from Ancient Greek λῆμμᾰ (lêmmă, “premise, assumption”), from the same root as λᾰμβᾰ́νω (lămbắnō, “to take”).
From the Ancient Greek λέμμα (lémma), from λέπω (lépō, “to peel”).
Words formed from lemma
- Bézout's lemma
- Euclid's lemma
- five lemma
- Johnson-Lindenstrauss lemma
- lemmatize
- Neyman-Pearson lemma
- pumping lemma
- Riemann-Lebesgue lemma
- Sperner's lemma
- Stein's lemma
- Teichmüller-Tukey lemma
- Tukey's lemma
- Urysohn's lemma
- Yao's lemma
- Yoneda lemma
- Zorn's lemma
- cytolemma
- karyolemma
- myolemma
- neurilemma
- neurolemma
- oolemma
- plasmalemma
- sarcolemma
Words that rhyme with lemma
- dilemma
- trilemma
- gemma
- stremma
- ack emma
- emma
- on the horns of a dilemma
- Pema
- pip emma
- problema
- quadrilemma
- tetralemma
1 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about lemma
- What does lemma mean?
- Lemma means a proposition proved or accepted for immediate use in the proof of some other proposition.
- What is lemma in Hindi?
- Lemma in Hindi is प्रमेयिका (prameyikā). See Lemma meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is lemma?
- Lemma can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce lemma?
- Lemma is pronounced /ˈlɛmə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of lemma?
- The plural of lemma is lemmas.
Words near lemma in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lemma (page history and authors); Lemma (page history and authors); lemma (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lemma (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lemma (Sinhala Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lemma.wav.
Cite this entry: “lemma.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lemma. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.