Word.ws English Dictionary

came

/ˈkeːm/UK/ˈkeɪ̯m/

came is the simple past of come.

came is the past participle of come.

came is the simple past of cum.

Meaning of come

Verb

come (third-person singular simple present comes, present participle coming, simple past came or (dialectal) come, past participle come or (dialectal) came or comen)

  1. (intransitive) To move nearer to the point of perspective.
    • She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes the wrong way […]
    1. (intransitive) To move toward the speaker.
      • I called the dog, but she wouldn't come.
    2. (intransitive) To move toward the listener.
      • Hold on, I'll come in a second.
    3. (intransitive) To move toward the object that is the focus of the sentence.
      • No-one can find Bertie Wooster when his aunts come to visit.
    4. (intransitive) To move toward the agent or subject of the main clause.
      • King Cnut couldn't stop the tide coming.
    5. (intransitive) To move toward an unstated agent.
      • The butler should come when called.

See all 31 meanings of come

Meaning of cum

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. (colloquial, slang, vulgar) To have an orgasm, to feel the sensation of an orgasm.
    • Despite claims to the contrary, a woman can cum from anal sex alone.
    Synonyms:
    climax
  2. (colloquial, slang, vulgar) To ejaculate.
    • Some men cum as much as 10 milliliters.

See all 7 meanings of cum

Preposition

came

  1. Used to indicate that the following event, period, or change in state occurred in the past, after a time of waiting, enduring, or anticipation
    • Came Christmas by which, at the outset, everybody knew it would be over, and it was not over. Came June, 1915, concerning which, at the outset, he had joined with Mr. Fortune, Twyning and Harold in laughter at his own grotesque idea of the war lasting to the dramatic effect of a culminating battle...1921, Arthur Stuart-Menteth Hutchinson, If Winter Comes, page 256
    Synonyms:
    by, when [event, period, change in state] came/arrived

Noun

came (plural cames)

  1. A grooved strip of metal, traditionally usually lead or brass and today sometimes stainless steel, used to hold panes of glass together in glazing.

Proper noun capitalized: Came

Came

  1. A surname.
  2. A commune in Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.

Synonyms of came

  • by
  • when [event, period, change in state] came/arrived

Forms of came

pluralcames

Origin of came

See come.

Attested from the 17th century, of unknown origin. Possibly from kame (“a ridge”). Compare Scots came (“comb”), Scots kame (“combing; a ridge”), and Middle English camet (“silver”).

Phrases with came

161 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with came

37 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about came

What does came mean?
Came means used to indicate that the following event, period, or change in state occurred in the past, after a time of waiting, enduring, or anticipation.
What is came the simple past of?
Came is the simple past of come.
What part of speech is came?
Came can be a preposition, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce came?
Came is pronounced /ˈkeɪ̯m/ (UK).

Words near came in the dictionary

  1. Camden Town
  2. Camdenite
  3. Camdenites
  4. Camdenton
  5. Camdyn
  6. came
  7. came a cropper
  8. came a gutser
  9. came a long way
  10. came about
  11. came across

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: came (page history and authors); Came (page history and authors); come (page history and authors); cum (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: en-us-came.ogg.

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