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LATIN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

sum.

to be, exist

3 characters1 syllables approx.Latina language

Meaning & usage

verb[ˈsũː]Classical-Latin[ˈsum]
  1. to be, exist

    copulative · suppletive
    Cīvis rōmānus sum.
    Sum sine rēgnō.
  2. to be, exist to belong

    copulative · suppletive
    Mihī est multum tempus.
  3. there be

    suppletive
  4. to go

    Medieval-Latin · past · suppletive
  5. be

    Ecclesiastical · Late-Latin · Latin · imperative · suppletive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *bʰúHt Proto-Italic *ezom~*som Archaic Latin 𐌄𐌔𐌏𐌌 (esom) Old Latin esum Latin sum From Proto-Italic *ezom~*som, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti (“be”) + *bʰúHt (“become”). From the latter of the two derive all the /f-/ forms of Latin sum (including fore), the separate verb fīō (“become”), and the verb-endings -bō (future) and -bam (past imperfect). Clipped conjugations with /s-/, such as sum itself, occurred alongside more conservative equivalents with /es-/ in early Latin, such as the archaic esum. The clipped forms likely arose as unstressed clitics.

pron[ˈsũː]Classical-Latin[ˈsum]
  1. him

    Old-Latin
Where this word comes from

From the acc.sg.m. of Proto-Italic *so. Attested in Ennius, see also sam and sōs.

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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.