lahm
German, adjective
lahm is spelled L-A-H-M (4 letters) and appears 8.7 times per million words in written German, the 7,885th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Lahm is a German adjective meaning “lame (limited in movement due to injury, defect or paralysis to legs, wings, etc.; especially of animals and their limbs)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With an umlaut, lähm is a different word: “singular imperative of lähmen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “gelähmt und daher unbeweglich”.
What does lahm mean in English?
adjective
- 1
lame (limited in movement due to injury, defect or paralysis to legs, wings, etc.; especially of animals and their limbs)
- 2
derogatoryinformallame, weak, unconvincing (of excuses, words of protest or defense, etc.)
- 3
derogatoryinformalslow (annoyingly so)
verb
- 1
singular imperative of lähmen
- 2
colloquialfirst-person singular present of lähmen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. gelähmt und daher unbeweglich 2. langsam seiend oder sich nur behäbig bewegend, nicht schnell vorwärts gehend 3. langweilig, uninteressant
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of lahm
- lahmer masculine nominative singular
- am lahmsten superlative
- lahme feminine nominative singular
- lahmes neuter nominative singular
- lahmen genitive masculine singular
- lahmem dative masculine singular
- der lahme definite includes-article masculine
- die lahme definite feminine includes-article
- das lahme definite includes-article neuter
- die lahmen definite includes-article nominative
- des lahmen definite genitive includes-article
- der lahmen definite feminine genitive
- dem lahmen dative definite includes-article
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to lahm
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is lahm in German?
lahm appears 8.7 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).