A lemma is a proven statement or proposition that is used as a stepping stone to prove a larger theorem. In mathematics and logic, lemmas help simplify complex proofs by breaking them down into more manageable parts. They are often considered intermediate results that support the main argument. In linguistics, a lemma refers to the base form of a word, which is used to represent all its inflected forms. For example, the lemma for the verb “run” includes its variations like “running” and “ran.” This concept helps in organizing and understanding language structures more effectively.