gum
/ɡʌm/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
New England/ɡʊm/
gum noun: the flesh around the teeth.
Noun (1)
gum (plural gums)
Verb (1)
gum (third-person singular simple present gums, present participle gumming, simple past and past participle gummed)
Noun (2)
gum (countable and uncountable, plural gums)
- A viscous water-soluble carbohydrate exudate of certain plants that hardens when it becomes dry, or such a substance as a component of a plant exudate.
- gum arabic
- gum-oleo-resin
- Any viscous or sticky substance resembling the true gum.
- gum benzoin
- […] becoomed wi' the gum o' the coal-hill […]1833, John Kennedy, Geordie Chalmers; or, the Law in Glenbuckie, page 205
- Chewing gum.
- A single piece of chewing gum.
- Do you have a gum to spare?
- Levi unwrapped a gum and put it in his mouth.2005, Zadie Smith, On Beauty, Penguin Books (2006), page 388
- A gummi candy.
- A hive made of a section of a hollow gum tree; hence, any roughly made hive.
- A vessel or bin made from a hollow log.
- A rubber overshoe.
- A gum tree.
Verb (2)
gum (third-person singular simple present gums, present participle gumming, simple past and past participle gummed)
- To apply an adhesive or gum to; to make sticky by applying a sticky substance to.
- However, Albert said in his audiotape and in his speech that a lever designed to release the lifeboat's block and tackle was gummed up with red paint.2012, Julie Hedgepeth Williams, A Rare Titanic Family: The Caldwells' Story of Survival, →ISBN, page 184
- To stiffen with glue or gum.
- He frets like a gummed velvet.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- To inelegantly attach into a sequence.
- It consists in gumming together long strips of words [that] have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug.1946, George Orwell, Politics and the English Language
- To impair the functioning of a thing or process.
- That cheap oil will gum up the engine valves.
- The new editor can gum up your article with too many commas.
Noun (3) capitalized: GUM
GUM (uncountable)
- Initialism of genitourinary medicine.
- Initialism of GUM (department store).
Proper noun capitalized: Gum
Gum (plural Gums)
- A surname.
gum meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
gum in Hindi
- flesh around teeth
- मसूड़ा masūṛā
gum in Tamil
- ஈறு, ஈறுக்கு
gum in Marathi
- हिरडा
gum in Urdu
- flesh around teeth
- مَسُوڑھا masūṛhā
More languagesFewer languages
- gum in Bengali
- গাম, গাম করতে
- gum in Telugu
- గమ్
- gum in Malayalam
- ഗം
- gum in Kannada
- ಗಮ್, ಒಸಡು
- gum in Punjabi
- ਗੰਮ
- gum in Gujarati
- ગમ
- gum in Odia
- ଗମ୍, ଗମ୍ କରିବା ପାଇଁ, ଗମ୍ କରିବାକୁ
- gum in Sanskrit
- निर्यास niryāsa, द्रव्य dravya
- gum in Nepali
- गिजा gijā
- gum in Tagalog
- gilagid, kalamak
- gum in Arabic
- لِثَة liṯa, لَثَة laṯa, صَمْغ ṣamḡ, عِلْكَة ʕilka
- gum in Malay
- gusi, getah
- gum in Indonesian
- gusi
- gum in Persian
- لثه lase, اروک aruk, آروک âruk, زیه ziye
- gum in Thai
- เหงือก ngʉ̀ʉak, ยาง yaang, กาว gaao, หมากฝรั่ง màak-fà-ràng
- gum in Vietnamese
- nướu, lợi
- gum in Myanmar
- သွားဖုံး swa:hpum:
Examples of gum in a sentence
- Brush regularly to keep your teeth and gums strong and healthy.
- I popped the gum into my mouth and gave it a chew.
- A dab of chewing gum will fix your note to the bulletin board.
Synonyms of gum
Forms of gum
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | gums |
| alternative Appalachia | gom |
| alternative form (dialectal) | goom |
| alternative form (obsolete) | gumm |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | gums |
| present participle | gumming |
| past participle | gummed |
| past | gummed |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Gums |
Origin of gum
From Middle English gom, gome, gomme, goome, gum, gume, gumme, from Old English gōma (“palate”), from Proto-West Germanic *gōmō, from Proto-Germanic *gaumô, *gōmô (“palate”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- (“to gape, yawn”). Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian gaumo (“palate”), German Gaum, Gaumen (“palate”), Luxembourgish Gomm, Gumm (“palate”), Yiddish גומען (gumen, “palate”), Danish gumme (“gums”), Icelandic gómur (“gum”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish gom (“palate”); also Latin hio (“to gape, yawn”), Ancient Greek χάσκω (kháskō, “to gape, yawn”), Lithuanian gomurỹs (“palate”), Bulgarian зе́я (zéja, “to gape”), Czech zát, zet (“to gape”), Polish ziać (“to pant”), Russian зия́ть (zijátʹ, “to gape, yawn”), Serbo-Croatian зи́јати, zíjati (“to gape, yawn”), Ukrainian зя́яти (zjájaty, “to gape”), Tocharian A koy- (“mouth”), Tocharian B koyn (“mouth”). More at yawn.
From Middle English gomme, gumme, borrowed from Anglo-Norman gome, from Late Latin gumma, from Latin cummi, gummi, from Ancient Greek κόμμι (kómmi), from Egyptian qmy (“anointing oil”), qmyt (“acanthus resin, gum”). Cognate with Spanish goma (“rubber”). Doublet of gumma.
* As an English and German surname, variant of Gumm. * As a north/Low German surname, from Old Saxon gumo (“man”). * As a Chinese surname, Romanized from 甘 (gān) (Gan).
Words formed from gum
- gumboil
- gum-didder
- gum-digger
- gum-digging
- gum disease
- gum job
- gumless
- gummed
- gummy
- gum ridge
- gum-ring
- gum-rubber
- gumshield
- gum shield
- gum-stake
- gum-tickler
- gum-tooth
- gumwork
- acacia gum
- acaroid gum
- accaroid gum
- accroides gum
- apple-gum
- Arabian gum
- arabic gum
- art gum
- Barbary gum
- bee gum
- begum
- black gum
- blue gum
- box-gum
- British gum
- bubble gum
- bubble-gum
- bubblegum
- cabbage gum
- Cape gum
- carob gum
- chagual gum
- chewing gum
- chicle gum
- cider gum
- cow gum
- cushion gum
- dammar gum
- degum
- doctor-gum
- doctor's gum
- elastic gum
- estergum
- flooded gum
- floodgum
- free gum
- fuchsia gum
- gellan gum
- ghatti gum
- ghost gum
- grey gum
- grilled gum
Phrases with gum
91 more phrasesFewer phrases
- gum nuts
- gum tree
- iron gum
- rose gum
- snow gum
- sour gum
- tara gum
- wine gum
- wood gum
- York gum
- gum boots
- gum butea
- gum lifts
- gum resin
- Gum Scrub
- gum stick
- gum trees
- gum water
- kauri gum
- manna gum
- river gum
- sugar gum
- swamp gum
- sweet gum
- water gum
- white gum
- wound gum
- gum acacia
- gum arabic
- gum cistus
- gum dammar
- gum dragon
- gum karaya
- gum resins
- gum sticks
- hashab gum
- karaya gum
- orange gum
- ribbon gum
- snappy gum
- spruce gum
- yellow gum
- gum acacias
- gum elastic
- gum juniper
- gum succory
- Persian gum
- spotted gum
- xanthan gum
- gum ammoniac
- gum Benjamin
- gum cistuses
- gum coolibah
- hog gum tree
- Kordofan gum
- mahogany gum
- mesquite gum
- nicotine gum
- Orenburg gum
- scribbly gum
- stick of gum
- stinking gum
- gum coolibahs
- hog gum trees
- river red gum
- sticks of gum
- up a gum tree
- gum turpentine
- Murray red gum
- sweet gum tree
- locust bean gum
- sweet gum trees
- gum up the works
- Strickland's gum
- weeping snow gum
- white gum poison
- scribbly gum moth
- southern blue gum
- Tasmanian blue gum
- salmon gum mushroom
- salmon gum mushrooms
- strike me up a gum tree
- had seen one's last gum tree
- has seen one's last gum tree
- have seen one's last gum tree
- happy as a possum up a gum tree
- having seen one's last gum tree
- walk and chew gum at the same time
- walks and chews gum at the same time
- walked and chewed gum at the same time
- walking and chewing gum at the same time
Words that rhyme with gum
Questions about gum
- What does gum mean?
- Gum means the flesh around the teeth.
- What is gum in Hindi?
- Gum in Hindi is मसूड़ा (masūṛā). See Gum meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is gum?
- Gum can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce gum?
- Gum is pronounced /ɡʌm/.
- What is the plural of gum?
- The plural of gum is gums.
Words near gum in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gum (page history and authors); GUM (page history and authors); Gum (page history and authors); gum (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gum (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gum (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gum (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gum (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gum (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gum (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gum (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); gum (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-gum.ogg.
Cite this entry: “gum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.