lambkin

American  

[lam-kin] / ˈlæm kɪn /

noun

1. a little lamb.

2. a person who is exceptionally sweet, young, and innocent, as a small child.

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lambkin British  

/ ˈlæmkɪn /

noun

1. a small or young lamb

2. a term of affection for a small endearing child

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Etymology

Origin of lambkin

First recorded in 1570–80; lamb + -kin

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lambkin

Sleep, baby, sleep, The lammies love the sheep— Woolly babes all nestle cosy, Lie, my lambkin, warm and rosy, Sleep, baby, sleep.

From Songs of Womanhood by Alma-Tadema, Laurence

Why, you lambkin pure as snow once followed to the pasture, I'll tell you how so; but, on your drinking-oath, you must swear to let nobody know it.

From Black Forest Village Stories by Auerbach, Berthold

I told Grandmother when we got home that I remembered when Grandfather Richards baptized me in Auburn, and when he gave me back to mother he said, “Blessed little lambkin, you’ll never know your grandpa.”

From Village Life in America 1852-1872 Including the period of the American Civil War as told in the diary of a school-girl by Richards, Caroline Cowles

With fresh full-throated warblings then the blithe birds stir the air, And lamb and lambkin in the mead their frisking sports prepare.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 57, No. 351, January 1845 by Various

Compared with the words lamb, man, and hill, the words lambkin, mannikin, and hillock convey the idea of comparative smallness or diminution.

From A Handbook of the English Language by Latham, R. G. (Robert Gordon)