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limb

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Etymology and origin of the English word limb

Pronunciation

limb1 arm, leg; branch

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 725, Beowulf
Inherited from
Proto-Germanic *limuz via Middle English, Old English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *limuz

Etymology

The body part is inherited from Middle English lim,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English lim (“limb, part of the body, branch of a tree”),[5][6][2][7][8] inherited from Proto-Germanic *limuz.[6][2][9] It is cognate with Old Norse limr (“limb”) and lim (“small branch”),[5][6][9][10] and with Swedish lem and Danish lem.[5][11][10] Etymonline and Hoad take it as related to Old English liþ (“limb, joint”), Old Frisian lith, liðr and Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌸𐌿𐍃 (liþus, “limb”),[6][12][13] and to German Glied (“limb, member”) and Dutch lid.[6][12][11] Kroonen compares Lithuanian liemuō (“log, trunk, body”),[9][5] and Barnhart (tentatively) and MW connect it with Latin līmes (“boundary”) and Latin līmen (“threshold”).[2][4] The final -b, which has long ceased to be pronounced, appears in the late 16th century, Barnhart's first record being 1547;[2][6][11] it is like the b of thumb,[11][2][14] perhaps under the influence of limb2 or of words such as comb and dumb.[2][6][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A main branch of a tree, in Beowulf,[5] which Barnhart dates to about 725;[2] Old English also used it for any part of the body and for a limb distinct from the head and trunk.[5][7]

Semantic evolution

The broad sense "any organ or part of the body" is obsolete except in dialect,[5][8][4] and Etymonline quotes Caxton (1484) using it of the genitals.[6] From about 1400 limb was used for the leg, and in Victorian English this became a prudish substitute for that word.[5][6] The phrase life and limb is recorded from about 1200.[6][5] Old English already spoke of the devil's limbs,[12][5] and since 1625 limb alone has meant a mischievous person, later a naughty child.[5][12] Limb of the law, a lawyer or police officer, was 18th-century derisive slang (1730).[5][6][13] The idiom out on a limb, in a risky position with no support, is first recorded in 1897, from the image of someone at the end of a branch.[2][6][14] The verb, to tear limb from limb, dates from 1674,[5][4] and since 1835 it has also meant to cut the branches off a felled tree.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English lim, a main branch of a tree, in Beowulf.[5][2]
  • c. 1125 – Middle English lim, in the Peterborough Chronicle.[2]
  • c. 1200 – life and limb.[6]
  • c. 1400 – the leg.[5]
  • 1547 – spelling with -b.[2]
  • 1625 – a mischievous person or child.[5]
  • 1674 – verb, to dismember.[5][4]
  • 1730 – limb of the law.[5]
  • 1835 – verb, to cut the branches off a tree.[5]
  • 1897 – out on a limb.[2][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An arm or leg of a person, or a similar part of an animal, such as a wing or fin.
  2. A large main branch of a tree.
  3. A projecting part or section of something larger; an extension.
  4. A member or agent of a larger body, as in a limb of the law.
  5. (chiefly British) A mischievous child.
  6. out on a limb: in a risky or isolated position, without support.

Verb

  1. To cut the branches off a felled tree.
  2. To tear limb from limb; to dismember.

Word family

  • limbless
  • limby
  • forelimb
  • hind limb
  • phantom limb

limb2 edge, border

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1392
Borrowed from
Old French limbe
Ultimate origin
Latin limbus
Etymology tree of limb2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin limbus
English limb

Etymology

The edge is borrowed from Old French limbe and directly borrowed from Latin limbus (“hem, border, edge, fringe; the zodiac”).[2][5][3][8][15][12] Etymonline calls the Latin word of uncertain origin;[6] Klein relates it to limp and to Middle High German limpfen (“to limp”).[10] It is related to limbo.[5][12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The graduated edge of a quadrant or other astronomical instrument: 1392, according to Barnhart,[2] or late 14th century in Etymonline;[6] the OED's first quotation for this sense is from 1593.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Scots from about 1450 to the late 18th century limb also meant limbo, the borderland of hell.[5][8][12] The astronomical sense, the edge of the disk of the sun, moon or another heavenly body, is recorded from before 1677, in Matthew Hale.[5][2][6] Newton used it for the edge of any surface (1704),[5] and since 1735 botanists have applied it to the broad blade of a petal, sepal or leaf.[5][8]

Timeline

  • 1392 – the graduated edge of an astronomical instrument.[2]
  • c. 1450 – Scots, limbo (obsolete by 1797).[5]
  • before 1677 – the edge of the disk of a heavenly body.[5][2]
  • 1704 – the edge or boundary of any surface.[5]
  • 1735 – botany, the blade of a petal or leaf.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (astronomy) The outer edge of the visible disk of the sun, the moon or a planet: the eastern limb of the moon.
  2. The graduated edge of an arc or circle in an instrument for measuring angles, such as a quadrant.
  3. (botany) The broad, flat part of a petal, sepal or leaf.

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  8. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  10. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

  • stall · also from Proto-Germanic
  • warmth · also from Proto-Germanic
  • foam · also from Proto-Germanic
  • mold · also from Proto-Germanic
  • worm · also from Proto-Germanic
  • dwarf · also from Proto-Germanic
  • deed · also from Proto-Germanic
  • crab · also from Proto-Germanic
Cite this entry

“Limb.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/limb. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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