lemur
/ˈliːmə(ɹ)/
"lemur" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lemur” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #48,861 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #48,861
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any strepsirrhine primate of the superfamily Lemuroidea, native only to Madagascar and some surrounding islands.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lemur |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈliːmə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #48,861 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lemur” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lemur is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈliːmə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #48,861 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for lemur, with forms such as "elmur", "lemmur", and "lemru". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 11 confusable-pair relationships, "lever", "Lexus", "leper", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin lemurēs (“spirits of the dead”). The name was originally given to the red slender loris (then Lemur tardigradus) in 1754 by Carl Linnaeus. According to Linnaeus, the name was selected because of the nocturnal activity and slow movements of the re… The correct English form is lemur, spelled L-E-M-U-R.
Definition
- 1Any strepsirrhine primate of the superfamily Lemuroidea, native only to Madagascar and some surrounding islands.
- 2Any of the genus Lemur, represented by the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta).
- 3A loris (Lemur tardigradus, now Loris tardigradus), predating the 10th edition of Systema Naturæ.
Etymology
From Latin lemurēs (“spirits of the dead”). The name was originally given to the red slender loris (then Lemur tardigradus) in 1754 by Carl Linnaeus. According to Linnaeus, the name was selected because of the nocturnal activity and slow movements of the red slender loris. In 1758, Linnaeus added, among others, the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) to the genus Lemur. All other species, including the red slender loris, were eventually moved to other genera. In time, the word became the colloquial name for all primates endemic to Madagascar.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: elmur,lemmur,lemru,lemurr,leumr,llemur,lmeur
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lemur - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Using “lemur”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-E-M-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈliːmə(ɹ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “lever” - see the side-by-side comparison. lemur vs lever
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.