"'em" meaning in English

See 'em in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Pronoun

IPA: /əm/, [əm], [m̩], [ɪm], [ɛm] Audio: en-us-'em.ogg [US]
enPR: əm Rhymes: -əm, -ɪm, -ɛm Etymology: From earlier hem, from Middle English hem, from Old English heom (“them”, dative) of hie, originally a dative plural form but in Middle English coming to serve as an accusative plural as well. Cognate with Dutch hun (“them”), German ihnen (“them”). Now often treated as a form of them, which however derives from Old Norse rather than Old English. Etymology templates: {{m|en|hem}} hem, {{inh|en|enm|hem}} Middle English hem, {{inh|en|ang|heom||them|pos=dative}} Old English heom (“them”, dative), {{m|ang|hie}} hie, {{cog|nl|hun||them}} Dutch hun (“them”), {{cog|de|ihnen||them}} German ihnen (“them”), {{m|en|them}} them, {{cog|non|-}} Old Norse Head templates: {{head|en|pronoun|||||||||||||||||||head=}} 'em, {{en-pron}} 'em
  1. (now colloquial) Them (now only in unstressed position following a consonant). Tags: colloquial Synonyms: hem Derived forms: beat 'em up, read 'em and weep, count 'em, go get 'em, hold 'em, Texas hold 'em, shoot 'em up, stick 'em up, up and at 'em Related terms: 'emselves, 'er, 'im, 'um

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for 'em meaning in English (4.4kB)

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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "hem"
      },
      "expansion": "hem",
      "name": "m"
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    {
      "args": {
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      "expansion": "Middle English hem",
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        "2": "-"
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      "expansion": "Old Norse",
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          "word": "beat 'em up"
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        {
          "word": "read 'em and weep"
        },
        {
          "word": "count 'em"
        },
        {
          "word": "go get 'em"
        },
        {
          "word": "hold 'em"
        },
        {
          "word": "Texas hold 'em"
        },
        {
          "word": "shoot 'em up"
        },
        {
          "word": "stick 'em up"
        },
        {
          "word": "up and at 'em"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1699, Robert Barret, A Companion for Midwives, Child-Bearing Women, and Nurses., London, Preface",
          "text": "We cannot reasonably ſuppoſe that Adam, who was ſo univerſally Skill'd in the Natures of all Plants, ſhould have been ignorant of their Vulnerary Qualities: Or that he would not employ this his Skill in endeavouring to cure Wounds, or Hurts, when any of his new-planted Stock had the Misfortune te receive 'em.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Chora's Den, Citadel",
          "text": "Harkin: I spent twenty years working cases here on the Citadel. People on this station love to talk. Secrets are like herpes. If you got 'em, you might as well spread 'em around.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 December 3, John Baron, The Guardian",
          "text": "We've literally had dozens of your photographs submitted this week – keep ’em coming!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
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      "id": "en-'em-en-pron-WZxKWLMH",
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          "Them",
          "them"
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      ],
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        {
          "word": "'emselves"
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        }
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    {
      "ipa": "/əm/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[əm]"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[m̩]"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ɪm]"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ɛm]"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-əm"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪm"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛm"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-'em.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/94/En-us-%27em.ogg/En-us-%27em.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/En-us-%27em.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
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      "text": "Audio (US)"
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    {
      "enpr": "əm"
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  "word": "'em"
}
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "beat 'em up"
    },
    {
      "word": "read 'em and weep"
    },
    {
      "word": "count 'em"
    },
    {
      "word": "go get 'em"
    },
    {
      "word": "hold 'em"
    },
    {
      "word": "Texas hold 'em"
    },
    {
      "word": "shoot 'em up"
    },
    {
      "word": "stick 'em up"
    },
    {
      "word": "up and at 'em"
    }
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    },
    {
      "args": {
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        "3": "",
        "4": "them"
      },
      "expansion": "German ihnen (“them”)",
      "name": "cog"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "them"
      },
      "expansion": "them",
      "name": "m"
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      "args": {
        "1": "non",
        "2": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From earlier hem, from Middle English hem, from Old English heom (“them”, dative) of hie, originally a dative plural form but in Middle English coming to serve as an accusative plural as well. Cognate with Dutch hun (“them”), German ihnen (“them”).\nNow often treated as a form of them, which however derives from Old Norse rather than Old English.",
  "head_templates": [
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        "10": "",
        "11": "",
        "12": "",
        "13": "",
        "14": "",
        "15": "",
        "16": "",
        "17": "",
        "18": "",
        "19": "",
        "2": "pronoun",
        "20": "",
        "3": "",
        "4": "",
        "5": "",
        "6": "",
        "7": "",
        "8": "",
        "9": "",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "'em",
      "name": "head"
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "'em",
      "name": "en-pron"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "pron",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "'emselves"
    },
    {
      "word": "'er"
    },
    {
      "word": "'im"
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      "word": "'um"
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        "English lemmas",
        "English plural pronouns",
        "English pronouns",
        "English terms derived from Middle English",
        "English terms derived from Old English",
        "English terms inherited from Middle English",
        "English terms inherited from Old English",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English third person pronouns",
        "Pages with raw sortkeys",
        "Rhymes:English/əm",
        "Rhymes:English/əm/1 syllable",
        "Rhymes:English/ɛm",
        "Rhymes:English/ɛm/1 syllable",
        "Rhymes:English/ɪm",
        "Rhymes:English/ɪm/1 syllable"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1699, Robert Barret, A Companion for Midwives, Child-Bearing Women, and Nurses., London, Preface",
          "text": "We cannot reasonably ſuppoſe that Adam, who was ſo univerſally Skill'd in the Natures of all Plants, ſhould have been ignorant of their Vulnerary Qualities: Or that he would not employ this his Skill in endeavouring to cure Wounds, or Hurts, when any of his new-planted Stock had the Misfortune te receive 'em.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Chora's Den, Citadel",
          "text": "Harkin: I spent twenty years working cases here on the Citadel. People on this station love to talk. Secrets are like herpes. If you got 'em, you might as well spread 'em around.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 December 3, John Baron, The Guardian",
          "text": "We've literally had dozens of your photographs submitted this week – keep ’em coming!",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Them (now only in unstressed position following a consonant)."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "Them",
          "them"
        ]
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(now colloquial) Them (now only in unstressed position following a consonant)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
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    }
  ],
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    {
      "ipa": "/əm/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[əm]"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[m̩]"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ɪm]"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ɛm]"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-əm"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪm"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛm"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-'em.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/94/En-us-%27em.ogg/En-us-%27em.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/En-us-%27em.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
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    },
    {
      "enpr": "əm"
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "hem"
    }
  ],
  "word": "'em"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-24 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (82c8ff9 and f4967a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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