lumbar
/ˈlʌm.bɑɹ/adjective, noun
lumbar is spelled L-U-M-B-A-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “lumbar vs lumber” about 30 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, lumbar means “Related to the lower back or loin, specifically the five vertebrae between the rib cage and the pelvis” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in lumbar?
| Letters | 6: L-U-M-B-A-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.2 times per million words; the 25,751st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is lumbar?
Lumbar appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 25,751st 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 lumbar?
- UK /ˈlʌm.bɑː/
- US /ˈlʌm.bɑɹ/
- US /ˈlʌm.bɚ/
Lumbar 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-us-lumbar_2.ogg, En-us-lumbar_1.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with lumbar
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with lumbar?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as lumbar (/ʌmbɑɹ/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: labrum, umbral.
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 lumbar
- more lumbar comparative
- most lumbar superlative
- lumbars plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does lumbar mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Related to the lower back or loin, specifically the five vertebrae between the rib cage and the pelvis.
noun
- 1
informalThe lumbar region.
- 2
A lumbar vertebra.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Lumbar in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense related to the lower back or loin:
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 lumbar come from?
From Latin lumbāris, from lumbus (“loin”) + -āris. See loin.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).