originally, the white cotton shawl worn in the highlands, corresponding to the sarong of the Pacific branch of the sea-going Southeast Asians. Loosely applied to all varieties of cloth garment. Lambarano is specifically a colorful cotton version; lambolandy is specifically silk; lambamena is a lamba used as a shroud to rewrap the bones of ancestors during a famadihana , and lamba hoany is the Malayan sarong, worn by everyone on the west coast. These often bear a written motto.

Alternative forms for lamba : lambamena, lambarano, lambolandy.