"fum" meaning in English

See fum in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /fʌm/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fum.wav [Southern-England] Forms: fums [plural], feng [alternative], fung [alternative], fung-hwang [alternative]
Rhymes: -ʌm Etymology: Etymology tree Chinese 鳳 /凤bor. English fum Borrowed from Chinese 鳳 /凤. Etymology templates: {{ety|en|:bor|zh:鳳|text=+|tree=1}} Etymology tree Chinese 鳳 /凤bor. English fum [Appendix:Glossary#loanword|Borrowed]] from", "terms" : [ { "children" : [ ], "lang_name" : "Chinese", "term" : "鳳", "status" : "missing", "lang" : "zh" } ], "keyword" : "bor" } ], "lang_name" : "English", "term" : "fum", "status" : "ok", "lang" : "en" }" data-lang="en" data-title="fum"> Borrowed from Chinese 鳳 /凤. Head templates: {{en-noun}} fum (plural fums)
  1. (mythology, obsolete) The fenghuang, a mythological Chinese bird. Tags: obsolete Related terms (etymologically unrelated terms containing "fum"): fee-faw-fum, fee-fi-fo-fum
    Sense id: en-fum-en-noun-laTfRkbq Categories (other): Mythology Topics: human-sciences, mysticism, mythology, philosophy, sciences
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Verb

IPA: /fʌm/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fum.wav [Southern-England] Forms: fums [present, singular, third-person], fumming [participle, present], fummed [participle, past], fummed [past]
Rhymes: -ʌm Head templates: {{en-verb}} fum (third-person singular simple present fums, present participle fumming, simple past and past participle fummed)
  1. (obsolete, intransitive) To play upon a fiddle. Tags: intransitive, obsolete
    Sense id: en-fum-en-verb-WDaBZvbe Categories (other): English entries referencing missing etymons, English entries with etymology texts, English entries with etymology trees, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages using etymon with no ID, Pages with etymology trees Disambiguation of English entries referencing missing etymons: 35 65 Disambiguation of English entries with etymology texts: 40 60 Disambiguation of English entries with etymology trees: 40 60 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 35 65 Disambiguation of Pages using etymon with no ID: 32 68 Disambiguation of Pages with etymology trees: 40 60
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fums",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fumming",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fummed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fummed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fum (third-person singular simple present fums, present participle fumming, simple past and past participle fummed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "35 65",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries referencing missing etymons",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "40 60",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with etymology texts",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "40 60",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with etymology trees",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "35 65",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "32 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages using etymon with no ID",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "40 60",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with etymology trees",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              15,
              18
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "c. 1604, Thomas Dekker, John Webster, Westward Ho:",
          "text": "Follow me, and fum as you go.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To play upon a fiddle."
      ],
      "id": "en-fum-en-verb-WDaBZvbe",
      "links": [
        [
          "play",
          "play"
        ],
        [
          "fiddle",
          "fiddle"
        ],
        [
          "Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary",
          "w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909"
        ],
        [
          "G. & C. Merriam",
          "w:Merriam-Webster"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete, intransitive) To play upon a fiddle."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fʌm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fum.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a2/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a2/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌm"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fum"
}

{
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":bor",
        "3": "zh:鳳",
        "text": "+",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nChinese 鳳 /凤bor.\nEnglish fum\n[Appendix:Glossary#loanword|Borrowed]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ ], \"lang_name\" : \"Chinese\", \"term\" : \"鳳\", \"status\" : \"missing\", \"lang\" : \"zh\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"bor\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"fum\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"fum\">\nBorrowed from Chinese 鳳 /凤.",
      "name": "ety"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Etymology tree\nChinese 鳳 /凤bor.\nEnglish fum\nBorrowed from Chinese 鳳 /凤.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fums",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "feng",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fung",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fung-hwang",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fum (plural fums)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Mythology",
          "orig": "en:Mythology",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              7
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1823, Richard Sickelmore, The history of Brighton from the earliest period to the present time:",
          "text": "The fum is a bird said to be found in no part of the world but China. It is described as of most admirable beauty, and if at any time absent, or long unseen, it is regarded as an omen of some misfortune to the royal family.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The fenghuang, a mythological Chinese bird."
      ],
      "id": "en-fum-en-noun-laTfRkbq",
      "links": [
        [
          "mythology",
          "mythology"
        ],
        [
          "fenghuang",
          "fenghuang"
        ],
        [
          "mythological",
          "mythological"
        ],
        [
          "Chinese",
          "Chinese"
        ],
        [
          "bird",
          "bird"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(mythology, obsolete) The fenghuang, a mythological Chinese bird."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "sense": "etymologically unrelated terms containing \"fum\"",
          "word": "fee-faw-fum"
        },
        {
          "sense": "etymologically unrelated terms containing \"fum\"",
          "word": "fee-fi-fo-fum"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "mysticism",
        "mythology",
        "philosophy",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fʌm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fum.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a2/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a2/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌm"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fum"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries referencing missing etymons",
    "English entries with etymology texts",
    "English entries with etymology trees",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from Chinese",
    "English terms derived from Chinese",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages using etymon with no ID",
    "Pages with 14 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Pages with etymology trees",
    "Rhymes:English/ʌm",
    "Rhymes:English/ʌm/1 syllable"
  ],
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fums",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fumming",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fummed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fummed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fum (third-person singular simple present fums, present participle fumming, simple past and past participle fummed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              15,
              18
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "c. 1604, Thomas Dekker, John Webster, Westward Ho:",
          "text": "Follow me, and fum as you go.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To play upon a fiddle."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "play",
          "play"
        ],
        [
          "fiddle",
          "fiddle"
        ],
        [
          "Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary",
          "w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909"
        ],
        [
          "G. & C. Merriam",
          "w:Merriam-Webster"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete, intransitive) To play upon a fiddle."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fʌm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fum.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a2/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a2/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌm"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fum"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries referencing missing etymons",
    "English entries with etymology texts",
    "English entries with etymology trees",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms borrowed from Chinese",
    "English terms derived from Chinese",
    "Pages using etymon with no ID",
    "Pages with 14 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Pages with etymology trees",
    "Rhymes:English/ʌm",
    "Rhymes:English/ʌm/1 syllable"
  ],
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":bor",
        "3": "zh:鳳",
        "text": "+",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nChinese 鳳 /凤bor.\nEnglish fum\n[Appendix:Glossary#loanword|Borrowed]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ ], \"lang_name\" : \"Chinese\", \"term\" : \"鳳\", \"status\" : \"missing\", \"lang\" : \"zh\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"bor\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"fum\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"fum\">\nBorrowed from Chinese 鳳 /凤.",
      "name": "ety"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Etymology tree\nChinese 鳳 /凤bor.\nEnglish fum\nBorrowed from Chinese 鳳 /凤.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "fums",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "feng",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fung",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "fung-hwang",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "fum (plural fums)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "sense": "etymologically unrelated terms containing \"fum\"",
      "word": "fee-faw-fum"
    },
    {
      "sense": "etymologically unrelated terms containing \"fum\"",
      "word": "fee-fi-fo-fum"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Mythology"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              7
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1823, Richard Sickelmore, The history of Brighton from the earliest period to the present time:",
          "text": "The fum is a bird said to be found in no part of the world but China. It is described as of most admirable beauty, and if at any time absent, or long unseen, it is regarded as an omen of some misfortune to the royal family.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The fenghuang, a mythological Chinese bird."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "mythology",
          "mythology"
        ],
        [
          "fenghuang",
          "fenghuang"
        ],
        [
          "mythological",
          "mythological"
        ],
        [
          "Chinese",
          "Chinese"
        ],
        [
          "bird",
          "bird"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(mythology, obsolete) The fenghuang, a mythological Chinese bird."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "mysticism",
        "mythology",
        "philosophy",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/fʌm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fum.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a2/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a2/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-fum.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌm"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fum"
}

Download raw JSONL data for fum meaning in English (5.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-06-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-06-01 using wiktextract (03da280 and 7f4db16). 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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