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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

um.

Expression of hesitation, uncertainty or space filler in conversation.

2 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

intj/ʌm/
  1. Expression of hesitation, uncertainty or space filler in conversation.

    Um, I don’t know.
    Let’s see... um... how about this?
  2. Dated spelling of mmm.

    US
  3. An expression to forcefully call attention to something wrong.

    Um, excuse me!
  4. An expression of shocked disapproval used by a child who witnesses forbidden behavior.

    childish
Where this word comes from

Onomatopoeic.

verb/ʌm/
  1. To make the um sound to express uncertainty or hesitancy.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

Onomatopoeic.

noun/ʌm/
  1. An occurrence of the interjection "um".

Where this word comes from

Onomatopoeic.

particle
  1. An undifferentiated determiner or article; a miscellaneous linking word, or filler with nonspecific meaning; representation of broken English stereotypically or comically attributed to Native Americans.

    dated · humorous · offensive · often · sometimes
    Me be Injun. Him um Growling Bear. Him um heap big chief.
Where this word comes from

Variant form of -um.

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um studioum workshello, um

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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.