stem.
The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
Meaning & usage
The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
A branch of a family.
A branch of a family. A branch, or group of branches, located outside a family or other cladistic group, but which is more closely related to that group than to any other taxon of the same rank.
An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
The above-ground stalk (technically axis) of a vascular plant, and certain anatomically similar, below-ground organs such as rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, and corms.
A slender supporting member of an individual part of a plant such as a flower or a leaf; also, by analogy, the shaft of a feather.
the stem of an apple or a cherry
A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.
The main part of an uninflected word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of the word. A stem often has a more fundamental root. Systematic conjugations and declensions derive from their stems.
A person's leg.
The penis.
A vertical stroke of a letter.
A vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music.
A premixed portion of a track for use in audio mastering and remixing.
The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.
The front part of a vessel.
from stem to stern
A component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork.
A part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications.
A crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe.
A winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *sth₂mnís Proto-Germanic *stamniz Proto-West Germanic *stamni Old English stemn Middle English stemme English stem From Middle English stem, stemme, stempne, stevin, from Old English stemn (“stem”), from Proto-West Germanic *stamni, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz (“stem, tree stalk”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, stay”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch stam (“stem”), German Stamm (“stem”), Danish and Norwegian stamme (“stem”), Danish stavn, stævn (“stem of a boat”), Faroese stavnur (“stem of a boat”), stovnur (“institution, public body, foundation, basis”), Icelandic stafn (“stem of a boat”), stofn (“trunk, stock, livestock, stem”), Norn stomna, stimna (“strength, ability”), Swedish stäm (“tree trunk, stem”), stäv (“stem of a boat”), stomme (“frame, structure”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍉𐌼𐌰 (stōma, “substantial grounds, just cause”), Asturian estame (“stamen”), Aragonese estambre (“stamen”), Catalan estam (“stamen”), French étaim (“yarn”), Galician estame (“stamen, yarn”), Italian stame (“stamen”), Portuguese estame (“stem, yarn”), Spanish Spanish estambre (“stamen, a type of yarn”), Latin stāmen (“warp of a loom, thread hanging from a distaff”), Ancient Greek στῆμα (stêma, “stamen of a flower”), στάμνος (stámnos, “earthen jar, bottle for racking off wine”), Albanian shtamë (“pot, jar, pitcher, jug”), Sanskrit स्थामन् (sthā́man, “place, strength”). Doublet of stamen. Not related to English stoma, which is a Greek loan inherited through New Latin.
To remove the stem from.
to stem cherries; to stem tobacco leaves
To be caused or derived; to originate.
The current crisis stems from the short-sighted politics of the previous government.
To descend in a family line.
To direct the stem (of a ship) against; to make headway against.
To hit with the stem of a ship; to ram.
To ram (clay, etc.) into a blasting hole.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂mn̥ Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *sth₂mnís Proto-Germanic *stamniz Proto-West Germanic *stamni Old English stemn Middle English stemme English stem From Middle English stem, stemme, stempne, stevin, from Old English stemn (“stem”), from Proto-West Germanic *stamni, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz (“stem, tree stalk”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, stay”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch stam (“stem”), German Stamm (“stem”), Danish and Norwegian stamme (“stem”), Danish stavn, stævn (“stem of a boat”), Faroese stavnur (“stem of a boat”), stovnur (“institution, public body, foundation, basis”), Icelandic stafn (“stem of a boat”), stofn (“trunk, stock, livestock, stem”), Norn stomna, stimna (“strength, ability”), Swedish stäm (“tree trunk, stem”), stäv (“stem of a boat”), stomme (“frame, structure”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍉𐌼𐌰 (stōma, “substantial grounds, just cause”), Asturian estame (“stamen”), Aragonese estambre (“stamen”), Catalan estam (“stamen”), French étaim (“yarn”), Galician estame (“stamen, yarn”), Italian stame (“stamen”), Portuguese estame (“stem, yarn”), Spanish Spanish estambre (“stamen, a type of yarn”), Latin stāmen (“warp of a loom, thread hanging from a distaff”), Ancient Greek στῆμα (stêma, “stamen of a flower”), στάμνος (stámnos, “earthen jar, bottle for racking off wine”), Albanian shtamë (“pot, jar, pitcher, jug”), Sanskrit स्थामन् (sthā́man, “place, strength”). Doublet of stamen. Not related to English stoma, which is a Greek loan inherited through New Latin.
To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood).
to stem a tide
To move the feet apart and point the tips of the skis inward in order to slow down the speed or to facilitate a turn.
To use a stance with the feet spread apart, bracing them in opposite directions against the two walls of a chimney or dihedral.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English stemmen, a borrowing from Old Norse stemma (“to stop, stem, dam”) (whence Danish stemme/stæmme (“to stem, dam up”)), from Proto-Germanic *stammijaną. Cognate with German stemmen, Middle Dutch stemmen, stempen. Compare stammer.
Alternative form of steem.
Alternative form of STEM.
Where this word comes from
Acronym of science, technology, engineering, (and) mathematics.
Alternative spelling of stemme (“lesbian who combines stud and femme traits”).
Where this word comes from
Blend of stud + femme.
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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.