hem

hem

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Hemba.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Hemba terms

A sound uttered in imitation of clearing the throat (onomatopoeia)

• enPR: hĕm, IPA^(key): /hɛm/
  • (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /hɪm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛm
• Homophone: him (pin–pen merger)

hem

1. Used to fill in the gap of a pause with a vocalized sound.
   • 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 195:

     "Hem! hem! however there will be a by-place for me behind the stove."

hem (plural hems)

1. An utterance or sound of the voice like "hem", often indicative of hesitation or doubt, sometimes used to call attention.
   • January 8, 1712', John Dryden, The Spectator No. 269

     his morning hems

hem (third-person singular simple present hems, present participle hemming, simple past and past participle hemmed)

1. To make the sound expressed by the word hem; to hesitate in speaking.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     Hem, and stroke thy beard.

   • 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter II, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume I, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:

     “Sit down,” said the young man, gruffly. “He’ll be in soon.”
     I obeyed; and hemmed, and called the villain Juno, who deigned, at this second interview, to move the extreme tip of her tail, in token of owning my acquaintance.

• ahem
• haw

From Middle English hem, hemm, in turn from Old English hem, of West Germanic origin, from Proto-West Germanic *hammjan from Proto-Germanic *hamjaną. Related to Middle High German hemmen (“to hem in”), Old Norse hemja (“to hem in, restrain”); outside of Germanic, to Armenian քամել (kʻamel, “to press, wring”), Russian ком (kom, “lump”).

The verb is from Middle English hemmen, from Old English hemman, from Proto-Germanic *hamjaną, or alternatively derived from the noun.

• enPR: hĕm, IPA^(key): /hɛm/
  • (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /hɪm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛm
• Homophone: him (pin–pen merger)

hem (plural hems)

2. (sewing) The border of an article of clothing doubled back and stitched together to finish the edge and prevent it from fraying.
3. A rim or margin of something.
   • c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:

     Entombed upon the very hem o' th' sea

4. In sheet metal design, a rim or edge folded back on itself to create a smooth edge and to increase strength or rigidity.

hem (third-person singular simple present hems, present participle hemming, simple past and past participle hemmed)

2. (sewing, intransitive) To make a hem.
3. (transitive) To put hem on an article of clothing, to edge or put a border on something.
4. (transitive) To shut in, enclose, confine; to surround something or someone in a confining way.

   A small yard hemmed about by a tall hedge.

   • 1862, John Williamson Palmer, Stonewall Jackson's Way:

     He’s in the saddle now. Fall in! Steady, the whole brigade! Hill’s at the ford, cut off — we’ll win his way out, ball and blade! What matter if our shoes are worn? What matter if our feet are torn? “Quick step! We’re with him before the morn!” That’s “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”
     The sun’s bright lances rout the mists of morning, and by George! Here’s Longstreet struggling in the lists, hemmed in an ugly gorge. Pope and his Yankees, whipped before, “Bay’nets and grape!” hear Stonewall roar; “Charge, Stuart! Pay off Ashby’s score!” in “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.

From Middle English hem, from Old English heom (“them”, dative), originally a dative plural form but in Middle English coming to serve as an accusative plural as well. More at 'em.

hem

1. Obsolete form of 'em.
   • 1481, William Caxton, The Historie of Reynart the Foxe:

     And wente to the kinge and to the queene, and said to hem with a glad cheer.

   • 1485, William Caxton, Paris and Vienne:

     For eyther of hem mayntened.

   • 1591, John Florio, Second Frutes to be gathered of twelve trees, of diverse but delightful tastes to the tongues of Italian and English:

     ‘What thinke you of this English, tel me I pray you.’ ‘It is a language that wyl do you good in England but passe Dover, it is woorth nothing.’ ‘Is it not used then in other countreyes?’ ‘No sir, with whom wyl you that they speake?’ ‘With English marchants.’ ‘English marchantes, when they are out of England, it liketh hem not, and they doo not speake it.

   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “May. Ægloga Quinta.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC:

     Tho to the greene wood they speeden hem all.

   • 1598, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Except we make hem such.

   • 1605 August (first performance), Geo[rge] Chapman, Ben Ionson, Ioh[n] Marston, Eastward Hoe. […], London: […] [George Eld] for William Aspley, published September 1605, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     They go forth on Holydays and gather hem by the seashore.

• “hem”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “hem”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “hem”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• Meh, meh, ehm

• em

From English him. Cognate with Tok Pisin em.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhem/
• Hyphenation: hem

hem

1. he, she, it; him, her

• Terry Crowley (2004), Bislama Reference Grammar, Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi press, →ISBN, page 46

hem

1. first-person plural present indicative of haver

From Middle Dutch hem, from Old Dutch himo, from Proto-Germanic *himmai.

• IPA^(key): /ɦɛm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hem
• Rhymes: -ɛm
• Homophone: Hem

hem

1. him; third-person singular masculine objective personal pronoun

   Stuur dat maar naar hem. ― Send that to him.

2. it (tagger in a game of tag)

   Tikkie, jij bent hem! ― Tag, you're it!

• Javindo: gem
• Jersey Dutch: häm
• Negerhollands: em, am, an, ham, him, hem
  • → Virgin Islands Creole: ahm, am

• IPA^(key): /ɛm/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

hem

1. interjection expressing doubt and/or hesitation

• “hem”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• IPA^(key): /hjem/, /çem/

Inherited from Old Anatolian Turkish هَمْ (häm), from Persian هم (ham).^[1] Compare Turkish hem, Azerbaijani həm. Related to English same.

hem

1. and

   Synonym: -län

   İnsannar hem insannık

   people and humanity

   sän hem bän

   you and I

2. (as hem... hem...) both... and...

   hem o hem bän

   both him and I

   hem ölä, hem bölä

   both like this and like that

hem

1. alternative form of en

• N. A Baskakov, editor (1972), “хем”, in Gagauzsko-Russko-Moldavskij Slovarʹ [Gagauz-Russian-Moldovan Dictionary], Moskva: Izdatelʹstvo Sovetskaja Enciklopedija, →ISBN, page 518
• Kopuşçu M. İ., Todorova S. A., Kiräkova T.İ., editors (2019), “hem”, in Gagauzça-rusça sözlük: klaslar 5-12, Komrat: Gagauziya M.V. Maruneviç adına Bilim-Aaraştırma merkezi, →ISBN, page 79

• IPA^(key): [ˈhɛm]
• Hyphenation: hem
• Rhymes: -ɛm

hem (plural hemek)

1. (biochemistry) heme (component of hemoglobin)

• IPA^(key): /hɛːm/
• Rhymes: -ɛːm

From Old Norse hem, related to eimr (“vapor”).^[1]

hem n (genitive singular hems, nominative plural hem)

1. thin layer of ice

   Synonym: skæni

hem(weak)

1. first-person singular present indicative of hemja
2. second-person singular imperative of hemja

From Dutch hemd, from Middle Dutch hemde, hemede, from Old Dutch *hemithi, from Proto-Germanic *hamiþiją.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛm/ [ˈhem]
• Rhymes: -ɛm
• Syllabification: hem

hèm (plural hem-hem)

1. shirt, an article of clothing that is worn on the upper part of the body, and often has sleeves, either long or short, that cover the arms

   Synonym: kemeja

From English heme.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛm/ [ˈhem]
• Rhymes: -ɛm
• Syllabification: hem

hèm (plural hem-hem)

1. (biochemistry) heme: the component of hemoglobin (and other hemoproteins) responsible for binding oxygen

A sound uttered in imitation of clearing the throat (onomatopoeia).

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈhəm/ [ˈhəm]
• Rhymes: -əm
• Syllabification: hem

hêm

1. used to express anger, furiousness, etc.

• “hem”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈhẽː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈɛm]

hem

1. eh?, really?, well, well!, just look! (expressing surprise)
   • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 194:

     DĀVUS: Nōn hercle intellegō. SĪMŌ: Nōn? Hem? DĀVUS: Nōn — Dāvus sum, nōn Oedipus.

     DAVUS: By Hercules, I don’t know [what you’re talking about].
     SIMO: You don’t? Really?
     DAVUS: Nope — I’m Davus, not Oedipus.
     (The wily slave Davus acts as if his master Simo speaks in riddles: Oedipus famously solved the riddle of the sphinx.)

• “hem”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “hem”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

From Old Dutch himo, from Proto-Germanic *himmai.

hem

1. accusative/dative of hi
2. dative of het

From Old Dutch hin, from Proto-Germanic *himaz.

hem

1. accusative/dative of si (“they”)

From Old English heom, from Proto-Germanic *himaz, masculine and neuter dative plural of *hiz. Compare þem.

hem (nominative he)

2. Third-person plural accusative pronoun: them
   • 14th c. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. General Prologue: 9–11.

     And smale foweles maken melodye, / That slepen al the nyght with open eye- / (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages);

     And many little birds make melody / That sleep through all the night with open eye / (So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)

   • 1407, The Testimony of William Thorpe, pages 40–41:

     And with alle these men I was ofte homli and I comownede with hem long tyme and fele, and so bifore alle othir men I chees wilfulli to be enformed bi hem and of hem, and speciali of Wiclef himsilf, as of the moost vertuous and goodlich wise man that I herde of owhere either knew.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 1539, Murdoch Nisbet, The New Testament:

     He prayis hem to lyue releg[ious] lyff[is] and to luk waraly for the cummyng of the lord.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (reflexive) themselves

• heme, hemme, heom, heon, hoem, hom, home, huem, hum, ham, hame, him, hym, em, am, ȝam

• English: 'em, hem
• Fingallian: a'me
• Yola: aam, ame

• “hem, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old English hem. See English hem for more.

hem

1. hem (edge of cloth or garment)
2. edge, boundary

• heme, hemme, hemn, hemne

• English: hem
• Scots: hem, heme

• “hem, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

hem

1. alternative form of him (“him”)

hem

1. and

• herwiha
• û

hem

1. imperative of hemme

From Proto-West Germanic *haim, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz.

hēm n

1. home, house
2. hamlet

• Middle Dutch: hêem, heim
  • Dutch: heem, heim (possibly from German), -em, -hem, -gem (in placenames)
    • Afrikaans: heim
  • Limburgish: heim

• “hēm”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

• IPA^(key): /xem/, [hem]

hem m

1. hem, border

• Joseph Bosworth; T. Northcote Toller (1898), “hem”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• IPA^(key): /ˈheːm/, [ˈhɛːm]

hēm m

1. alternative form of hām

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009), An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 28

• hemi

From English him.

hem

1. he/she/it (third-person singular pronoun)
   • 1988, Geoffrey Miles White, Bikfala faet: olketa Solomon Aelanda rimembarem Wol Wo Tu‎^[1], page 75:

     Bihaen hemi finisim skul blong hem, hemi go minista long sios long ples blong hem long 'Areo.

     After he finished his/her schooling, he went to be a minister at his/her church in 'Areo.

hem?

1. (dated) alternative spelling of hein

• “hem”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “hem”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French hème.

hem n (plural hemuri)

1. heme

From Old Norse heim < heimr, from Proto-Germanic *haimaz.

• IPA^(key): /hɛm/

• Audio (Gotland):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛm
• Rhymes: -ɛmː

hem (not comparable)

1. home (to one's home)

   Det är dags att åka hem

   It is time to go home

   Jag vill hem!

   I want to go home! [See ska for why there is åka (“go [with a conveyance]”), gå (“walk”), or the like (though "I want home!" also works in English here)]

2. to someone's home (more generally); to someone's place / house / home, to [name of person]'s, etc.

   Vi åkte hem till henne

   We went to her house

   (literally, “We went [with a vehicle] home to her”)

   Vi var hem till henne igår

   We went to her house yesterday

   (literally, “We were home to her yesterday”)

   Ska vi gå hem till dig eller mig?

   Shall we go to your place or mine?

   (literally, “Shall we go home to you or me?”)

   • 1974, Lasse Tennander, “Ska vi gå hem till dig [Shall We Go to Your Place [home to you]]”, in Allting som ni gör kan jag göra bättre [Anything You Do, I Can Do Better [a cover album]]‎^[2], performed by Magnus Uggla:

     Ska vi gå hem till dig eller hem till mig, eller var och en hem till sitt? Ska vi göra som dom andra och ägna oss åt varandra, eller ska var och en sköta sitt?

     Shall we go to your place [home to you] or to my place [home to me], or each one ["each and one" – idiomatic] home to theirs [nominalized – neuter gender is used when there is no concrete referent, like in impersonal constructions and here, as a rule of thumb]? Shall we do like the others and spend time on each other [engage in each other as an activity – doesn't have the connotations of "devote"], or shall each one mind [take care of] theirs [nominalized]?

hem n

1. a home; one's dwelling place, as in a house or a more general geographical place; the abiding place of the affections.

   Ens hem är där man bor

   One's home is where one lives

   Farmor har städat hemmet

   Grandma has cleaned her home

2. a home; an institution

   Farmor har hamnat på hemmet

   Grandma has ended up at the care home

The different senses are commonly distinguished by the use of i or på, like in the given usage examples.

• hemma

• “hem”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “hem”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “hem”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

Borrowed from Persian هم (ham). Doublet of homo-.

• IPA^(key): /hæm/, /hɛm/

hem

1. and also

hem … hem …

1. both … and

   Synonym: hem … hem de …

   Hem bu hem şu. ― Both this one and that one.

hem

1. h-prothesized form of em