limn

UK/lɪm/US/lɪm/

verbC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: limning, limned

To limn is to paint or describe something in outline. Limn a portrait, limned in a few strokes, limn the scene.

It is literary and is used now almost only of writing, where limning a character means sketching them rather than filling them in. The word first meant to illuminate a manuscript, and the silent n is a leftover of that.

Definitions of limn

1verblimnTo paint or describe something in outline.C2
“In a few quick strokes, the artist limned the outline of the cathedral.”

limn is a drawing.

Also accepted in games: delineate

Where it comes from

Middle English limnen means to illuminate a manuscript, from Latin luminare, to light up.

Proto-Indo-European
*lewk- — bright; to shine; to see
Latin
illūminō — to brighten, light up; to adorn; to make conspicuous
Old French
enluminer — to brighten, light up; to give colour to; to illuminate (a manuscript)
Middle English
limnen
English, today
limn

Built from

lymne · Middle English — to illuminate (a manuscript)
luminen · Middle English — to illuminate (a manuscript)
enluminen · Middle English — to shed light on, illuminate; to enlighten; to make bright or clear; to give colour to; to illuminate (a manuscript); to depict, describe; to adorn or embellish with figures of speech or poetry; to make famous, glorious, or illustrious
lūminō · Latin — to brighten, illuminate; to reveal

From Middle English limnen, limyne, lymm, lymn, lymne (“to illuminate (a manuscript)”), a variant of luminen (“to illuminate (a manuscript)”), short form of enluminen (“to shed light on, illuminate; to enlighten; to make bright or clear; to give colour to; to illuminate (a manuscript); to depict, describe; to adorn or embellish with figures of speech or poetry; to make famous, glorious, or illustrious”), from Old French enluminer (“to brighten, light up; to give colour to; to illuminate (a manuscript)”), from Latin illūminō (“to brighten, light up; to adorn; to make conspicuous”), from il- (a variant of in-) + lūminō (“to brighten, illuminate; to reveal”) (from lūmen (“light; (poetic) brightness”) (from Proto-Indo-European lewk- (“bright; to shine; to see”)) + -ō).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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