What is "limma"

n. (context music English) Any of several small musical intervals, such as the semitone

The word limma or leimma (remnant) can refer to several different musical intervals, whose only common property is their small size:

• The original Pythagorean limma, 256/243, a Pythagorean interval .
• The 5-limit limma (now a diesis), 128/125, the amount by which three just major thirds fall short of an octave .
• The major limma, 135/128, which is the difference between two major whole tones and a minor third .
• The 5-limit diatonic semitone, 16/15 . Although closer in size to the Pythagorean apotome than to the limma, it has been so called because of its function as a diatonic semitone rather than a chromatic one.