limbo

From Middle English limbo/lymbo, naming the place where innocent souls waited before entering heaven, taken from Latin limbō — the ablative form of limbus, meaning border, edge, or fringe. Its deeper root is uncertain, but it may trace back to a Proto-Indo-European word for hanging loosely or limply.

The word began as a theological term for a border-realm souls passed through, and over time loosened into everyday language for any in-between, unresolved state. The dance move of the same name has a separate, uncertain origin — possibly a respelling of 'limber' to fit a Caribbean English pronunciation — and it's unclear whether that verb grew from the noun or the other way around.

It's a doublet of limp, both tracing back to that same possible root meaning 'to hang loosely.'