-um
UK/əm/
-um suffix: denotes singular grammatical number.
Suffix (1)
- Denotes singular grammatical number.
- Forms the ends of the names of certain elements (such as molybdenum and platinum).
Suffix (2)
-um
- Denotes transitive verbs in the trade pidgins used between English-speakers and indigenous populations; used derogatorily by extension in English by addition to any verb, transitive or not.
- Having finished her return of deaths, she went on to say "Black fellow sick—white lady fowl sendum—white lady kangaroo sendum—master all self eatum—" but here she paused and made an exception in favour of the matron, expressed by the words " Missis not eatum—missis good fellow."1871, Mrs. Edward Millett, An Australian parsonage; or, The settler and the savage in Western Australia, page 129
- "Givum dinner; smokum pipe," was all that we could get out of Quatchett.1896, F J Stimsom, King Noanett: A Story of Old Virginia and the Massachusetts Bay, page 254
Forms of -um
| plural | -ums |
|---|---|
| plural | -a |
Origin of -um
From the homographic case endings of the nominative, accusative, and vocative forms of numerous neuter Latin second declension nouns.
Possibly from 'em.
Words formed from -um
- skookum
- smellum water
- smokum
- criterium
- datum
- decennium
- delirium
- desideratum
- erratum
- forum
- gymnasium
- honorarium
- imperium
- interbellum
- labarum
- mandatum
- maximum
- medium
- millennium
- minimum
- modicum
- mortuarium
- museum
- opium
- optimum
- pessarium
- podium
- postbellum
- referendum
- sanatorium
- solarium
- stadium
- talcum
- tedium
- ultimatum
- unicum
- vacuum
- Valium
Questions about -um
- What does -um mean?
- -um means denotes singular grammatical number.
- What part of speech is -um?
- -um is a suffix.
- How do you pronounce -um?
- -um is pronounced /əm/ (UK).
Words near -um in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: -um (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame--um.wav.
Cite this entry: “-um.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/-um. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.