lemming
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]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.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Tunturisopuli_Lemmus_Lemmus.jpg/220px-Tunturisopuli_Lemmus_Lemmus.jpg)
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]lemming (plural lemmings)
- 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.
- (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.
- 2014, M.P. Fedunkiw, A Degree of Futility[1], page 61:
- Like a lemming, I followed the crowd, got to the right line and was concentrating hard when queried by the customs officer.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]- bog lemmings (Synaptomys spp.)
- collared lemmings (Dicrostonyx spp.)
- steppe lemmings (Lagurus lagurus)
- true lemmings (Lemmus spp.)
- wood lemmings (Myopus schisticolor)
- yellow steppe lemmings (Eolagurus spp.)
- Eurolemming
- Norway lemming
Translations
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Dutch
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Danish and Norwegian lemming, from Old Norse lómundr, læmingi, læmingr (“lemming”), perhaps from Sami luomek.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file)
Noun
[edit]lemming m (plural lemmingen or lemmings, diminutive lemminkje n)
- lemming (rodent)
Further reading
[edit]- Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
Anagrams
[edit]French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Danish and Norwegian lemming, from Old Norse lómundr, læmingi, læmingr (“lemming”), perhaps from Sami luomek.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]lemming m (plural lemmings)
Further reading
[edit]- “lemming”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Portuguese
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unadapted borrowing from English lemming.
Pronunciation
[edit]
Noun
[edit]lemming m (plural lemmings)
- Alternative form of lémingue
Spanish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Danish and Norwegian lemming, from Old Norse lómundr, læmingi, læmingr (“lemming”), perhaps from Sami luomek.
Noun
[edit]lemming m (plural lemmings)
- lemming (rodent)
- English terms derived from Danish
- English terms derived from Norwegian
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms derived from Sami languages
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛmɪŋ
- Rhymes:English/ɛmɪŋ/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Cricetids
- Dutch terms derived from Danish
- Dutch terms derived from Norwegian
- Dutch terms derived from Old Norse
- Dutch terms derived from Sami languages
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -en
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch masculine nouns
- nl:Cricetids
- French terms derived from Danish
- French terms derived from Norwegian
- French terms derived from Old Norse
- French terms derived from Sami languages
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Cricetids
- Portuguese terms borrowed from English
- Portuguese unadapted borrowings from English
- Portuguese terms derived from English
- Portuguese 2-syllable words
- Portuguese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese nouns
- Portuguese countable nouns
- Portuguese masculine nouns
- Spanish terms derived from Danish
- Spanish terms derived from Norwegian
- Spanish terms derived from Old Norse
- Spanish terms derived from Sami languages
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish masculine nouns
- es:Cricetids