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PlainSpell

lemon

/ˈlɛmən/noun, adjective, verb

lemon is spelled L-E-M-O-N: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 6,047th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, lemon means “A yellowish citrus fruit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of lemon is lemons.

How many letters and syllables are in lemon?

Letters5: L-E-M-O-N
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing13 times per million words; the 6,047th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is lemon?

Lemon appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 6,047th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce lemon?

  • /ˈlɛmən/
  • /ˈlɛmɪn/
  • /ˈlɪmɪn/

Lemon has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-lemon.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Simplificationalizer-lemon.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with lemon?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as lemon.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: melon.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of lemon

  • lemons plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • limon
  • more lemon comparative
  • most lemon superlative
  • lemoning participle, present
  • lemoned participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does lemon mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A yellowish citrus fruit.

  2. 2

    A semitropical evergreen tree, Citrus limon, that bears such fruits.

  3. 3

    A more or less bright shade of yellow associated with lemon fruits.

  4. 4

    rareLemon juice.

  5. 5

    A lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris).

  6. 6

    slangA defective or inadequate item or individual.

    He didn’t realise until he’d paid for it that the car was a lemon.

  7. 7

    slangFavor.

    A thousand quid for that motor? Do me a lemon! I could get it for half that.

  8. 8

    slangA piece of fanfiction involving explicit sex.

adjective

  1. 1

    Containing or having the flavour/flavor and/or scent of lemons.

  2. 2

    Of the pale yellow colour/color of lemons.

  3. 3

    slangSmart; cheeky, vocal.

verb

  1. 1

    To flavour with lemon.

    You can start the vegetables cooking while you are lemoning the fish.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate lemon?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of lemon: LLB.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Lemon in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcitron (citrus fruit), citronnier (tree), chiotte (defective item), jaune citron (colour/color)
GermanZitrone (citrus fruit), Zitronenbaum (tree), Gurke, Krücke (defective item), Zitronengelb (colour/color), compounds with Zitrone (having the flavour/flavor and/or scent of lemons)
Portugueselimão, limão siciliano (citrus fruit), limoeiro (tree), porcaria (defective item), limoado (having the flavour/flavor and/or scent of lemons), limonado (having the colour/color of lemons)
Spanishlimón, citrón (citrus fruit), limonero (tree), maula, porquería (defective item), limonado (having the colour/color of lemons)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does lemon come from?

Inherited from Middle English lymon, from Old French lymon (“citrus”), from Arabic لَيْمُون (laymūn) or Classical Persian لِیمُون (līmūn), a variant of Classical Persian لِیمُو (līmū, līmō), from Sanskrit निम्बू (nimbū, “lime”), ultimately from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *limaw or Munda. Doublet of lime. The fandom sense is named after the erotic anime series Cream Lemon.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after lemon