hum.
A hummed tune, i.e. created orally with lips closed.
Meaning & usage
A hummed tune, i.e. created orally with lips closed.
An often indistinct sound resembling human humming.
They could hear a hum coming from the kitchen and found the dishwasher on.
Busy activity, like the buzz of a beehive.
Unpleasant odour.
An imposition or hoax; humbug.
A kind of strong drink.
A phenomenon, or collection of phenomena, involving widespread reports of a persistent and invasive low-frequency humming, rumbling, or droning noise not audible to all people.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English hummen (“to hum, buzz, drone, make a murmuring sound to cover embarrassment”); akin to Dutch hommelen (“to bumble, buzz”), dialectal Dutch hommen (“to buzz, hum”), Middle High German hummen (“to hum”), probably ultimately of imitative origin.
To make a sound from the vocal cords without pronouncing any real words, with one's lips closed.
We are humming happily along with the music.
To express by humming.
to hum a tune
The team hummed “We Shall Overcome” as they came back onto the field after the break.
To drone like certain insects naturally do in motion, or sounding similarly.
To buzz, be busily active like a beehive.
The streets were humming with activity.
To produce low sounds which blend continuously.
To reek, smell bad.
This room really hums — have you ever tried spring cleaning, mate?
To flatter by approving; to cajole; to deceive or impose upon; to humbug.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English hummen (“to hum, buzz, drone, make a murmuring sound to cover embarrassment”); akin to Dutch hommelen (“to bumble, buzz”), dialectal Dutch hommen (“to buzz, hum”), Middle High German hummen (“to hum”), probably ultimately of imitative origin.
Synonym of hmm: a noise indicating thought, consideration, &c.
Synonym of um: a noise indicating doubt, uncertainty, &c.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English hummen (“to hum, buzz, drone, make a murmuring sound to cover embarrassment”); akin to Dutch hommelen (“to bumble, buzz”), dialectal Dutch hommen (“to buzz, hum”), Middle High German hummen (“to hum”), probably ultimately of imitative origin.
Synonym of see hum (“blood cockles, ark clams”).
Where this word comes from
Borrowed from Hokkien 蚶 (ham).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.