cum

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See also: Appendix:Variations of "cum"

English

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin cum (“with”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kʌm/, /kʊm/
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌm, -ʊm

Preposition

cum

  1. Used in indicating a thing or person which has two or more roles, functions, or natures, or a which has changed from one to another.
    He built a bus-cum-greenhouse that made a bold statement, but the plants in it didn't live very long.
    But instead of being a salesperson cum barista cum waitress merely serving the wordsmiths, I'm one of them, reading her latest baby out loud.
    • 1926-1950, George Bernard Shaw, Collected Letters: 1926-1950‎, University of California/Viking, published 1985, page 31:
      He is too good an actor to need that sort of tomfoolery: the effect will be far better if he is a credible mining camp elder-cum-publican.
    • 1944 May and June, “Notes and News: The Snailbeach District Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 183:
      One driver-cum-fireman-cum-fitter looks after the three locomotives, [...].
    • 2001 Nov/Dec, David Sachs, “LET THEM EAT BITS”, in American Spectator, volume 34, number 8, page 78:
      The banner shows a yellowed silhouette of a boy (possibly Calvin, of Calvin & Hobbes) urinating on an EU flag. Sites such as this show the full power of the Internet as a propaganda medium cum travel service cum organizing tool. Oh, and nightlife directory.
    • 2023 February 5, Kathryn Parsons, “Boom times are back in San Francisco’s tech mecca”, in The Sunday Times‎:
      Coffee shops-cum-meeting-spots dotted across the city are teeming (Equator, Blue Bottle and Saint Frank). Caffeine-fuelled, lactose-intolerant, macadamia milk latte-drinking young folk are journalling, manifesting, coding, ChatGPT-ing and pitching their ideas.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:cum.
Usage notes

Also used in some British place names and civil parish names, see table below

Translations
Translations

Etymology 2

Variant of come, attested (in the basic sense "come, move from further to nearer, arrive") since Old English. The sexual sense of come is attested since the 1650s. In this sense and spelling, attested from 1970s.

Pronunciation

Noun

cum (uncountable)

  1. (colloquial, often vulgar) Semen.
    Synonyms: jizz, (chiefly UK) spunk, (US) spooge, nut, skeet, junk; see also Thesaurus:semen
    • 1977, John Rechy, The Sexual Outlaw, New York: Dell, →ISBN, page 73:
      Jim descends into the murky tunnel; the faint odor of cum permeates the air.
  2. (colloquial, often vulgar) Female ejaculatory discharge.
  3. (colloquial, often vulgar) An ejaculation.
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

cum (third-person singular simple present cums, present participle cumming, simple past came or (nonstandard) cummed, past participle come or cum or (nonstandard) cummed)

  1. (slang, often vulgar) To have an orgasm, to feel the sensation of an orgasm.
    Synonym: climax
    (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  2. (slang, often vulgar) To ejaculate.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ejaculate
    • 1997 July 14, “Visits, Conjugal, and Otherwise”, in Oz, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau):
      I got no sensation down there, so I don't know when I'm hard, I don't know when I cum. My wife's gotta tell me.
    • 2019, “All Humans Too Late”, in The Book of Traps and Lessons, performed by Kae Tempest:
      Sucking on pork ribs and summoning pornography / So that we can cum when we fuck / Our partners don’t know us / Our families are strangers
  3. Eye dialect spelling of come (“move from further to nearer; arrive”).
    • 1882, William Makepeace Thayer, From Log-Cabin to White House, page 162:
      “Where'd he cum from?” the bowman inquired. “That's what we'd like ter know, yer see; where he cum from, and how he happen'd to cum,” responded the steersman. “But he's a jolly good feller, strong as a lion, […] ”
Usage notes

Many style guides and editors recommend the spelling come for verb uses (to orgasm/to ejaculate) while strictly allowing the spelling cum for the noun (semen/female ejaculatory discharge). Both spellings are sometimes found in either the noun or verb sense, however. Others prefer to distinguish in formality, using come for any formal usage and cum only in slang, erotic or pornographic contexts.

The past tense and past participle variant cummed is used when the verb is felt as a denominal from the noun rather than a specialized sense of the verb come.

Translations

Etymology 3

Adjective

cum (not comparable)

  1. Clipping of cumulative.

Etymology 4

Noun

cum (uncountable)

  1. Abbreviation of cubic metre.
    The density of cement is 1440 kg/cum.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “cum”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “cum”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 “cum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  4. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “cum”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  5. ^ Glossophilia

Anagrams

Aromanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *quomo, from Latin quōmodo.

Adverb

cum

  1. how

Conjunction

cum

  1. how

Eastern Cham

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Verb

cum

  1. to kiss
  2. to smell (something)

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish cummaid (“fashions, shapes, composes, determines; makes, creates, devises”), from cummae (“act of cutting, carving, hacking, destroying, butchering; act of shaping, fashioning, composing; shape, form, appearance”) (compare modern cuma).

Pronunciation

Verb

cum (present analytic cumann, future analytic cumfaidh, verbal noun cumadh, past participle cumtha) (transitive, intransitive)

  1. to form (give shape)
  2. to compose (construct by mental labor; to think up)
  3. to invent, make up, coin
  4. to concoct (contrive something using skill or ingenuity)
  5. to manufacture, fabricate (a story, excuse etc.)

Inflection

conjugation of cum (first conjugation – A)
singular plural relative autonomous
first second third first second third
indicative present cumaim cumann tú;
cumair† 		cumann sé, sí cumaimid cumann sibh cumann siad;
cumaid† 		a chumann; a chumas /
a gcumann*; a gcumas* 		cumtar
past chum mé; chumas chum tú; chumais chum sé, sí chumamar; chum muid chum sibh; chumabhair chum siad; chumadar a chum /
ar chum* 		cumadh
past habitual chumainn / gcumainn‡‡ chumtá / gcumtᇇ chumadh sé, sí / gcumadh sé, s퇇 chumaimis; chumadh muid / gcumaimis‡‡; gcumadh muid‡‡ chumadh sibh / gcumadh sibh‡‡ chumaidís; chumadh siad / gcumaidís‡‡; gcumadh siad‡‡ a chumadh /
a gcumadh* 		chumtaí / gcumta퇇
future cumfaidh mé;
cumfad 		cumfaidh tú;
cumfair† 		cumfaidh sé, sí cumfaimid;
cumfaidh muid 		cumfaidh sibh cumfaidh siad;
cumfaid† 		a chumfaidh; a chumfas /
a gcumfaidh*; a gcumfas* 		cumfar
conditional chumfainn / gcumfainn‡‡ chumfá / gcumfᇇ chumfadh sé, sí / gcumfadh sé, s퇇 chumfaimis; chumfadh muid / gcumfaimis‡‡; gcumfadh muid‡‡ chumfadh sibh / gcumfadh sibh‡‡ chumfaidís; chumfadh siad / gcumfaidís‡‡; gcumfadh siad‡‡ a chumfadh /
a gcumfadh* 		chumfaí / gcumfa퇇
subjunctive present go gcuma mé;
go gcumad† 		go gcuma tú;
go gcumair† 		go gcuma sé, sí go gcumaimid;
go gcuma muid 		go gcuma sibh go gcuma siad;
go gcumaid† 		— go gcumtar
past dá gcumainn dá gcumtá dá gcumadh sé, sí dá gcumaimis;
dá gcumadh muid 		dá gcumadh sibh dá gcumaidís;
dá gcumadh siad 		— dá gcumtaí
imperative cumaim cum cumadh sé, sí cumaimis cumaigí;
cumaidh† 		cumaidís — cumtar
verbal noun cumadh
past participle cumtha

* indirect relative
† archaic or dialect form
‡‡ dependent form used with particles that trigger eclipsis

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
cum chum gcum
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

Latin

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old Latin com, from Proto-Italic *kom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“next to, at, with, along”). Cognate with Proto-Germanic *ga- (“co-”), Proto-Slavic *sъ(n) (“with”), Proto-Germanic *hansō. More at Hanse.

The ablative is from the PIE comitative-instrumental.

Preposition

cum (+ ablative)

  1. with, along with
    Titus cum familiā habitat. ― Titus lives with his family.
    magnā cum laude ― with great praise
  2. at (denoting a point in time with which an action coincides)
    Mīlitēs cum prīmā lūce vēnērunt. ― The soldiers came at day-break.
  3. -fold (with ordinal number)
    cum centesimo efficere ― to yield a hundredfold
Derived terms
Descendants
  • → English: cum
  • Aragonese: con
  • Aromanian: cu
  • Asturian: con, cun, co
  • Corsican: cù, cun
  • Dalmatian: con
  • Emilian: con
  • Friulian: cun, cu
  • Istriot: cun, cu'
  • Italian: con
  • Ladin: con, co, cun
  • Ligurian: con
  • Lombard: cond
  • Megleno-Romanian: cu
  • Mirandese: cun
  • Neapolitan: cu
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: con
    • Fala: con
    • Galician: con
    • Portuguese: com (see there for further descendants)
  • Piedmontese: cun
  • Romagnol: cun
  • Romanian: cu
  • Leonese: cun
  • Romansch: cun
  • Sardinian: chin, cun
  • Sicilian: cu
  • Spanish: con
  • Venetian: co

Etymology 2

From Old Latin quom, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷóm, accusative of *kʷos, *kʷis. Compare its feminine form quam (as in tum-tam).

Alternative forms

Conjunction

cum (followed by the subjunctive)

  1. when, after (causal, with imperfect subjunctive or pluperfect subjunctive)
  2. because, since
  3. although

cum (followed by the indicative)

  1. when, while (temporal, with present indicative or perfect indicative)
Usage notes
  • In the sense of when, if there is no causal link between the verb in the dependent clause and the verb in the main clause (sometimes called an inverted cum-clause, as the 'main action' of the sentence occurs in the dependent clause), the indicative is used rather than the subjunctive.
    per viam ambulābāmus cum pugnam vīdimus. — "We were walking through the street when we saw a fight."

Often coupled with tum

  1. Such that "tum x, cum y" = "then x, when y"
  2. "cum x tum y"="not only x but also y"
Coordinate terms
Derived terms

References

  • (preposition) “cum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • (conjunction) “cum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “cum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • cum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • cum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • a storm accompanied by heavy claps of thunder: tempestas cum magno fragore (caeli) tonitribusque (Liv. 1. 16)
    • to have the same boundaries; to be coterminous: continentem esse terrae or cum terra (Fam. 15. 2. 2)
    • at the same moment that, precisely when: eo ipso tempore, cum; tum ipsum, cum
    • occasions arise for..: incidunt tempora, cum
    • I have not seen you for five years: quinque anni sunt or sextus annus est, cum te non vidi
    • to live to see the day when..: diem videre, cum...
    • with many tears: multis cum lacrimis
    • with many tears: magno cum fletu
    • so-and-so is in a very satisfactory position; prospers: agitur praeclare, bene cum aliquo
    • under such circumstances: quae cum ita sint
    • to struggle with adversity: conflictari (cum) adversa fortuna
    • to balance a loss by anything: damnum compensare cum aliqua re
    • to form a friendship with any one: amicitiam cum aliquo jungere, facere, inire, contrahere
    • I am on good terms with a person: est or intercedit mihi cum aliquo amicitia
    • I am on bad terms with a person: sunt or intercedunt mihi cum aliquo inimicitiae
    • to be bound by the closest ties of friendship: artissimo amicitiae vinculo or summa familiaritate cum aliquo coniunctum esse
    • to be at enmity with a man: inimicitias gerere, habere, exercere cum aliquo
    • to make a person one's enemy: inimicitias cum aliquo suscipere
    • to reconcile two people; to be a mediator: in gratiam aliquem cum aliquo reducere
    • to be reconciled; to make up a quarrel: in gratiam cum aliquo redire
    • to expostulate with a person about a thing: conqueri, expostulare cum aliquo de aliqua re
    • I heard him say..: ex eo audivi, cum diceret
    • to confuse true with false: vera cum falsis confundere
    • to imbibe error from one's mother's breasts: errorem cum lacte nutricis sugere (Tusc. 3. 1. 2)
    • (1) to communicate one's plans to some one; (2) to make common cause with a person. Similarly c. causam, rationem: consilia cum aliquo communicare
    • to think over, consider a thing: secum (cum animo) reputare aliquid
    • to think over, consider a thing: considerare in, cum animo, secum aliquid
    • to enjoy close intercourse with... (of master and pupil): multum esse cum aliquo (Fam. 16. 21)
    • to be closely connected with a thing: cohaerere, coniunctum esse cum aliqua re
    • to maintain a controversy with some one: controversiam (contentionem) habere cum aliquo
    • to come to an understanding with a person: transigere aliquid cum aliquo
    • to agree with a person: consentire, idem sentire cum aliquo
    • to disagree with a person: dissentire, dissidere ab or cum aliquo
    • to be united by having a common language: eiusdem linguae societate coniunctum esse cum aliquo (De Or. 3. 59. 223)
    • to hold an altercation with a man: verbis concertare or altercari cum aliquo (B. C. 3. 19. 6)
    • to correspond with some one: colloqui cum aliquo per litteras
    • to my sorrow: cum magno meo dolore
    • my relations with him are most hospitable: mihi cum illo hospitium est, intercedit
    • to become a friend and guest of a person: hospitium cum aliquo facere, (con-)iungere
    • to associate with some one: societatem inire, facere cum aliquo
    • to be always in some one's company: assiduum esse cum aliquo
    • to be on friendly terms with a person: usu, familiaritate, consuetudine coniunctum esse cum aliquo
    • to be on friendly terms with a person: est mihi consuetudo, or usus cum aliquo
    • to be on friendly terms with a person: vivere cum aliquo
    • relations are strained between us: in simultate cum aliquo sum
    • to enter into conversation with some one: sermonem conferre, instituere, ordiri cum aliquo
    • to enter into conversation with some one: se dare in sermonem cum aliquo
    • to converse, talk with a person on a subject: sermonem habere cum aliquo de aliqua re (De Am. 1. 3)
    • to meet a person by arrangement, interview him: congredi cum aliquo
    • to speak personally to..: coram loqui (cum aliquo)
    • to shake hands with a person: dextram iungere cum aliquo, dextras inter se iungere
    • to be married to some one: nuptam esse cum aliquo or alicui
    • to separate from, divorce (of the man): divortium facere cum uxore
    • to have business relations with some one: contrahere rem or negotium cum aliquo (Cluent. 14. 41)
    • to transact, settle a matter with some one: transigere aliquid (de aliqua re) cum aliquo or inter se
    • to do no business with a man: nihil cum aliquo contrahere
    • to balance accounts with some one: rationes putare cum aliquo
    • to be content with 12 per cent at compound interest: centesimis cum anatocismo contentum esse (Att. 5. 21. 12)
    • to contend with some one for the pre-eminence: contendere cum aliquo de principatu (Nep. Arist. 1)
    • to submit a formal proposition to the people: agere cum populo (Leg. 3. 4. 10)
    • to be on a person's side (not ab alicuius partibus): ab (cum) aliquo stare (Brut. 79. 273)
    • to take some one's side: cum aliquo facere (Sull. 13. 36)
    • to conspire with some one: conspirare cum aliquo (contra aliquem)
    • to have unlimited power; to be invested with imperium: cum imperio esse (cf. XVI. 3)
    • to go to law with a person: (ex) iure, lege agere cum aliquo
    • to proceed against some one with the utmost rigour of the law; to strain the law in one's favour: summo iure agere cum aliquo (cf. summum ius, summa iniuria)
    • to live with some one on an equal footing: aequo iure vivere cum aliquo
    • to isolate a witness: aliquem a ceteris separare et in arcam conicere ne quis cum eo colloqui possit (Mil. 22. 60)
    • to join forces with some one: copias (arma) cum aliquo iungere or se cum aliquo iungere
    • to hold a high command: cum imperio esse
    • to be armed: cum telo esse
    • to begin a war with some one: bellum cum aliquo inire
    • to make war on a person: bellum gerere cum aliquo
    • to advance with the army: procedere cum exercitu
    • with wife and child: cum uxoribus et liberis
    • to come to close quarters: manum (us) conserere cum hoste
    • to come to close quarters: signa conferre cum hoste
    • to fight a pitched, orderly battle with an enemy: iusto (opp. tumultuario) proelio confligere cum hoste (Liv. 35. 4)
    • a hand-to-hand engagement ensued: tum pes cum pede collatus est (Liv. 28. 2)
    • with great loss: magno cum detrimento
    • to treat with some one about peace: agere cum aliquo de pace
    • to make peace with some one: pacem facere cum aliquo
    • to conclude a treaty with some one: pactionem facere cum aliquo (Sall. Iug. 40)
    • to conclude a treaty, an alliance: foedus facere (cum aliquo), icere, ferire
    • allow me to say: bona (cum) venia tua dixerim
    • putting aside, except: cum discessi, -eris, -eritis ab

Manx

Etymology 1

From Old Irish con·gaib. Cognate with Irish coinnigh and Scottish Gaelic cum.

Verb

cum (verbal noun cummal)

  1. grip, hold
  2. keep, arrest, retain
  3. contain
  4. live, inhabit
  5. celebrate

Etymology 2

From Middle Irish cummaid, a denominative verb from cumma, itself from Old Irish cummae (“shape, form, appearance”).

Verb

cum (verbal noun cummey)

  1. plan, devise
  2. fabricate, shape, mould
  3. indite

Mutation

Manx mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
cum chum gum
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Old French

Conjunction

cum

  1. Alternative form of conme

Old Irish

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Verb

·cum

  1. Alternative form of ·cumai, third-person singular present subjunctive prototonic of con·icc

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Nasalization
·cum ·chum ·cum
pronounced with /-ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

  1. ^ McCone, Kim (1997) The Early Irish Verb (Maynooth Monographs 1), 2nd edition, Maynooth: An Sagart, →ISBN, page 34: “This process favoured the type without final unstressed vowel, whence -cum alongside -cumai (con:ic)”

Portuguese

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: cum

Etymology 1

From contraction of preposition com (“with”) + masculine article um (“a”). Compare Galician cun.

Contraction

cum m sg (masculine plural cuns, feminine singular cuma, feminine plural cumas)

  1. (Portugal, informal) Contraction of com um (“with a”).

Etymology 2

Preposition

cum

  1. (Brazil, Internet slang) Eye dialect spelling of com.
Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:cum.

Further reading

Rohingya

Etymology

From Sanskrit चुम्ब (cumba).

Noun

cum

  1. kiss

Romanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin quomo, from Latin quōmodo.

Pronunciation

Adverb

cum

  1. (interrogative or negative) how
    Cum ți-ar plăcea cafeaua?
    How would you like your coffee?

Conjunction

cum

  1. how
  2. as, since, seeing that
  3. (informal) Synonym of de cum (“as soon as”)

Usage notes

Sense 2 is low-pitched or unstressed, while sense 3 is high-pitched or stressed.

Derived terms

References

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English cumen, variant of comen, from Old English cuman. Cognate with English come and Yola coome.

Pronunciation

Verb

cum

  1. to come

Scottish Gaelic

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old Irish con·gaib. Cognate with Irish coinnigh and Manx cum.

Verb

cum (past chum, future cumaidh, verbal noun cumail, past participle cumta)

  1. keep, hold
    Cùm seo dhomhsa gu Dihaoine. ― Keep this for me till Friday.
    Chùm i an taigh glan. ― She kept the house clean.
    Cha do chùm e ris a’ bhargan. ― He didn’t keep the bargain.
  2. keep, continue
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Old Irish cummaid (“to fashion, makes”), from cummae (“act of cutting, shaping”), verbal noun of con·ben.

Verb

cum (past chum, future cumaidh, verbal noun cumadh, past participle cumta)

  1. shape, form

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical Lenition
cum chum
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Yola

Verb

cum

  1. Alternative form of coome
    • 1867, “DR. RUSSELL ON THE INHABITANTS AND DIALECT OF THE BARONY OF FORTH”, in APPENDIX:
      Fad didn'st thou cum t' ouz on zum other dey?

References

  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 131
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