Word.ws English Dictionary

'um

'um is the alternative form of 'em.

Meaning of 'em

Pronoun

'em

  1. (colloquial) Them (now only in unstressed position).
    • Some are become great, ſome atcheeues greatneſſe, and ſome haue greatneſſe thruſt vppon em.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

Origin of 'um

Contracted from them.

Words formed from 'um

Questions about 'um

What is 'um the alternative form of?
'um is the alternative form of 'em.

Words near 'um in the dictionary

  1. 'twouldn't
  2. 'ud
  3. 'uds
  4. 'ull
  5. 'ullo
  6. 'um
  7. 'umble
  8. 'umbly
  9. 'umour
  10. 'umours
  11. 'umra

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 'um (page history and authors); 'em (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “'um.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/%27um. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.