lamba

noun

"lamba" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“lamba” is uncommon English (frequency #98,350 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#98,350
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The traditional garment worn by men and women in Madagascar, consisting of a rectangular length of cloth wrapped around the body.

Corpus desk

Index EN-lamba · lamba · English

lamba · rank #98,350 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #98,350
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH laksa

Nearest frequency peer: laksa (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “lamba”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “lamba” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for lamba
PropertyValue
Headwordlamba
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters5
Frequency rank#98,350
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “lamba” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).lambafalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “laksa” (#98,349), “laggard” (#98,348), “lampreys” (#98,352). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “lamba” is #98,350. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

lamba is uncommon English at frequency #98,350 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The traditional garment worn by men and women in Madagascar, consisting of a rectangular length of cloth wrapped around the body.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for lamba, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Malagasy (Highlands dialect). The correct English form is lamba, spelled L-A-M-B-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    The traditional garment worn by men and women in Madagascar, consisting of a rectangular length of cloth wrapped around the body.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how lamba appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. […] the Lances flew briskly at one another; one of which went thorow my Lamber, and scratch’d me […]
  2. I was, from the first, surprised by the reverent manner in which public worship is conducted—especially by the outward respect shown during prayer. Almost everyone has his face covered with the folds of the lamba, and even young children seem instinctively to know that prayer is a solemn act, and often lie at full length on the ground perfectly still, wit…

Etymology

From Malagasy (Highlands dialect).

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "lamba"?
"lamba" is spelled L-A-M-B-A.
What does "lamba" mean?
As a noun, "lamba" means: The traditional garment worn by men and women in Madagascar, consisting of a rectangular length of cloth wrapped around the body.
What is the origin of the word "lamba"?
From Malagasy (Highlands dialect). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "lamba", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list