Standard Lemma guide

lemming

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /lɛm.ɪŋ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛmɪŋ
  • CMU ARPABET: L EH1 M IH0 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A small arctic and subarctic rodent of the tribes Lemmini, Dicrostonychini and Lagurini.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any member of a group given to conformity or groupthink, especially a group poised to follow a leader off a cliff.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

any of various short-tailed furry-footed rodents of circumpolar distribution

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: rodent, gnawer

Narrower terms: European lemming, Lemmus lemmus, brown lemming, Lemmus trimucronatus, grey lemming, gray lemming, red-backed lemming, pied lemming, southern bog lemming, Synaptomys cooperi, northern bog lemming, Synaptomys borealis

History

Etymology

From Danish and Norwegian lemming, from Old Norse lómundr, læmingi, læmingr (“lemming”), perhaps from Sami luomek. Sense 2 derives from a longstanding myth that they exhibit so much herd mentality that populations jump off cliffs to their deaths together.

Across languages

Translations

58 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: leming — rodent
  • Armenian: լեմինգ (leming) — rodent
  • Azerbaijani: lemminq — rodent
  • Bulgarian: леминг (leming) — rodent
  • Catalan: lèmming — rodent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 旅鼠 (lǚshǔ) — rodent
  • Chukchi: гувчеԓкаԓгын (guvčeḷkaḷgyn) — rodent
  • Czech: lumík — rodent
  • Danish: lemming — rodent
  • Dutch: lemming — rodent
  • Esperanto: lemo — rodent
  • Estonian: lemming — rodent
  • Faroese: læmingi — rodent
  • Finnish: sopuli — rodent
  • French: lemming — rodent
  • Georgian: ლემინგები (lemingebi) — rodent
  • German: Lemming — rodent
  • Greenlandic: avinngaq — rodent
  • Greenlandic: maajooq — rodent
  • Greenlandic: narlumukaaq — rodent
  • Hawaiian: ʻawinaka — rodent
  • Hebrew: לֵמוּס (lémus) — rodent
  • Icelandic: læmingi — rodent
  • Ido: lemingo — rodent
  • Inuktitut: ᐊᕕᙵᖅ (afinngaq) — rodent
  • Italian: lemming — rodent
  • Italian: lemmo — rodent
  • Japanese: レミング (remingu) — rodent
  • Japanese: 旅鼠 (tabinezumi) — rodent
  • Kazakh: лемминг (lemmiñ) — rodent
  • Korean: 레밍 (reming) — rodent
  • Macedonian: леминг (leming) — rodent
  • Eastern Mari: лемминг (ĺemming) — rodent
  • Mongolian: хөвхөлжин (xövxölžin) — rodent
  • Norwegian Bokmål: lemen — rodent
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: lemen — rodent
  • Old Norse: lómundr — rodent
  • Polish: leming — rodent
  • Portuguese: lêmingue — rodent
  • Portuguese: lémingue — rodent
  • Romanian: leming — rodent
  • Russian: ле́мминг (lémming) — rodent
  • Russian: пестру́шка (pestrúška) — rodent
  • Southern Sami: sluemege — rodent
  • Southern Sami: luemege — rodent
  • Serbo-Croatian: leming — rodent
  • Slovene: léming — rodent
  • Spanish: lemming — rodent
  • Swedish: lämmel — rodent
  • Tibetan: འགྲུལ་བྱི། ('grul byi) — rodent
  • Welsh: leming — rodent
  • Welsh: llygod Norwy — rodent
  • Danish: lemming — member of a group given to conformity or groupthink
  • Finnish: laumasielu — member of a group given to conformity or groupthink
  • Finnish: sopuli — member of a group given to conformity or groupthink
  • French: mouton de Panurge — member of a group given to conformity or groupthink
  • Polish: leming — member of a group given to conformity or groupthink
  • Polish: wyznawca — member of a group given to conformity or groupthink