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PlainSpell

limb

/lɪm/noun, verb

limb is spelled L-I-M-B: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.0 times per million words in written English, the 11,198th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, limb means “A major appendage of human or animal, used for locomotion (such as an arm, leg or wing)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of limb is limbs.

How many letters and syllables are in limb?

Letters4: L-I-M-B
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing5.0 times per million words; the 11,198th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
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 limb?

Limb appears 5.0 times per million words in written English, the 11,198th 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 limb?

  • /lɪm/

Limb has one syllable (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-us-limb.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with limb

Sounds like: Lymm, limn (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: lim.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with limb?

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

Spelled with the same letters in another order: blim.

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 limb

  • limbs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • limbing participle, present
  • limbed participle, past

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

What does limb mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A major appendage of human or animal, used for locomotion (such as an arm, leg or wing).

  2. 2

    A branch of a tree.

  3. 3

    The part of the bow, from the handle to the tip.

  4. 4

    An elementary piece of the mechanism of a lock.

  5. 5

    A thing or person regarded as a part or member of, or attachment to, something else.

  6. 6

    Ellipsis of limb of Satan (“a wicked or mischievous child”).

  7. 7

    The apparent visual edge of a celestial body.

    the solar limb

  8. 8

    The graduated edge of a circle or arc.

  9. 9

    The border or upper spreading part of a monopetalous corolla, or of a petal or sepal; blade.

verb

  1. 1

    To remove the limbs from (an animal or tree).

    They limbed the felled trees before cutting them into logs.

  2. 2

    To supply with limbs.

  3. 3

    To thoroughly defeat an opponent in fisticuffs

    Brian limbed Roger over at the Beahive last night.

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

Limb in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmembre, extrémité (major appendage of human or animal), branche (branch of a tree), démembrer (to remove limbs), limbe (apparent visual edge)
GermanGlied, Gliedmaße, Extremitäten (major appendage of human or animal), Ast (branch of a tree), zergliedern (to remove limbs)
Portuguesemembro (major appendage of human or animal), galho (branch of a tree), desmembrar, desgalhar (to remove limbs), limbo (apparent visual edge), braço (part of bow)
Spanishmiembro, extremidad (major appendage of human or animal), rama (branch of a tree)

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 limb come from?

From Middle English lyme, lim, from Old English lim (“limb, branch”), from Proto-West Germanic *limu, from Proto-Germanic *limuz (“branch, limb”). Cognate with Old Norse limr (“limb”). The spelling with the silent unetymological -b first arose in the late 1500s. Compare crumb.

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

What to look up after limb