lemmata

Noun (1)

lemma (plural lemmas or lemmata)

1. 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
   1. (broadly) A proposition originally used for such a purpose, but having later acquired a greater, independent, importance; a fundamental (often pithy) and widely-used result.
2. 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.

   Synonyms:

   lexeme

3. 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)

lemma (plural lemmas or lemmata)

1. The outer shell of a fruit or similar body.
2. One of the specialized bracts around the floret in grasses.

See all 7 meanings of lemma