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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

lisp.

The act or a habit of lisping.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/lɪsp//lɪθp//lɪl͡sp/
  1. The act or a habit of lisping.

    He used to have a terrible lisp before going to a speech therapist.
    It's common for children to speak with a lisp.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English lispen, lipsen, wlispen, from Old English *wlispian (attested in āwlyspian (“to lisp”)), from Old English wlisp, wlips (“stammering, lisping”, adjective), from Proto-Germanic *wlispaz (“lisping”), from Proto-Indo-European *wlis-, *wleys- (“rod”), from *wel- (“to turn, roll”). Cognate with Middle Low German wlispen (“to lisp”), Dutch lispen (“to lisp”), German lispeln (“to lisp”), Danish læspe (“to lisp”), Swedish läspa (“to lisp”).

verb/lɪsp//lɪθp//lɪl͡sp/
  1. To pronounce the consonant ‘s’ imperfectly; to give ‘s’ and ‘z’ the sounds of ‘th’ (/θ/, /ð/). This is a speech impediment common among children.

    intransitive
    Until the age of 10, Dominic would lisp, but this was fixed by a speech therapist.
  2. To speak with imperfect articulation; to mispronounce, such as a child learning to talk.

    intransitive
  3. To speak hesitatingly and with a low voice, as if afraid.

    archaic · intransitive
  4. to express by the use of simple, childlike language.

    archaic · intransitive
  5. To speak with reserve or concealment; to utter timidly or confidentially.

    archaic · intransitive
    to lisp treason
Where this word comes from

From Middle English lispen, lipsen, wlispen, from Old English *wlispian (attested in āwlyspian (“to lisp”)), from Old English wlisp, wlips (“stammering, lisping”, adjective), from Proto-Germanic *wlispaz (“lisping”), from Proto-Indo-European *wlis-, *wleys- (“rod”), from *wel- (“to turn, roll”). Cognate with Middle Low German wlispen (“to lisp”), Dutch lispen (“to lisp”), German lispeln (“to lisp”), Danish læspe (“to lisp”), Swedish läspa (“to lisp”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.