Translingual

Symbol

Em

1. (metrology) Symbol for the exameter (exametre), an SI unit of length equal to 10¹⁸ meters (metres).
2. (chemical symbol, dated) emanation
3. (music) Symbol for E minor.

English

Proper noun

Em

1. A diminutive of the female given names Emily and Emma.
   • 1900 Lyman Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 24:

     And oh, Aunt Em! I'm so glad to be at home again!

   • 2008 Anne Enright, Yesterday's Weather, Vintage (2009), ISBN 9780099520993, page 4:

     Mind you, he never calls me anything back. Isn't that the way of it? What do men call their wives. 'Em...' Like every woman in the planet was christened Emily. 'Em...is that shirt clean?'

Anagrams

• me, ME, Me.

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĕm, IPA^(key): /ɛm/
• Rhymes: -ɛm

Noun

em ‎(plural ems)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter M/m.

   The ems and ens at the beginnings and ends.

2. (typography) A unit of measurement equal to the height of the type in use.

Synonyms

• (typography): quad, em quad
• (typography): mutton, mut

Derived terms

• emcee
• em dash

Translations

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) letter; a, bee, cee, dee, e, ef, gee, aitch, i, jay, kay, el, em, en, o, pee, cue, ar, ess, tee, u, vee, double-u, ex, wye, zee/zed ^{(Category: en:Latin letter names)}

Etymology 2

Coined by Christine M. Elverson by removing the "th" from them, perhaps influenced by 'em.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m/

Pronoun

em ‎(third-person singular, gender-neutral, objective case, reflexive emself, possessive eir)

1. (neologism) them (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular object pronoun, coordinate with him and her.
   • 1986 April 1, Spivak, Michael, The Joy of TeX: A Gourmet Guide to Typesetting with the AMS-TeX macro package, Providence: American Mathematical Society, ISBN 0821829998, LCCN 85007506, LCC Z253.4.T47 S673 1986, page 68:

     If the author uses such notation, it should be up to Em to indicate Eir intentions clearly, but there's no harm checking first.

   • 1997, Shaviro, Steven, Doom Patrols : A Theoretical Fiction About Postmodernism, London: Serpent's Tail, ISBN 9781852424305, LCCN 9668813, page 138:

     I may become quite intimate with someone, spend hours with em every night, and yet not have the slightest idea what eir voice sounds like, or what eir RL body looks, feels, and smells like.

   • 2000, Love, Jane, “Ethics, Plugged and Unplugged: The Pegagogy of Disorderly Conduct”, in Inman, James A.; Sewell, Donna N., editors, Taking flight with OWLs: Examining Electronic Writing Center Work, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0805831711, LCC PE1414.T24 1999, page 193:

     E invites em to consider how ey represent emselves^[sic], and in so doing, e focuses eir attention on the ethics that make human relations possible.

   • 2011 March 15, Edwards, RJ, “
2. 89: New Friend”, in Riot Nrrd, retrieved 2012-10-06:

   And ultimately: I think my readers are mature enough that knowing eir assigned gender is not going to give them an “excuse” to misgender em.

Synonyms

• him or her, him/her
• (singular) them
• (neologism) hir

Derived terms

• (neologism) emself

Determiner

em

1. Eye dialect spelling of them, representing African American Vernacular English.

See also

• other attested and proposed gender-neutral pronouns

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ(ː)m/

Compare um.

Interjection

em

1. (Scotland, Ireland) a form of hesitant speech, or an expression of uncertainty; um; umm; erm

   She was going to, em... the salon, I think.

Anagrams

• me, ME, Me.

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin mē, from Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-.

Pronoun

em ‎(proclitic, contracted m', enclitic me, contracted enclitic 'm)

1. me (direct or indirect object)

Declension

Related terms

• me
• mi
• jo

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛm/

Noun

em n

1. The name of the Latin-script letter M/m.

Kurdish

Pronoun

em

1. we; us (first-person plural personal pronoun)

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /em/, [ẽ]

Noun

em ‎(indeclinable)

1. The name of the letter M.

Usage notes

• Multiple Latin names for the letter M, m have been suggested. The most common is em or a syllabic m, although there is some evidence which also supports, as names for the letter, mē, əm, mə, and even (in the fourth- or fifth-century first Antinoë papyrus, which gives Greek transliterations of the Latin names of the Roman alphabet’s letters) ιμμε ‎(imme).

Coordinate terms

• (Latin’s names for the letters of its own alphabet): ā (A), bē (B), cē (C), dē (D), ē (E), ef (F), gē (G), hā (H), ī (I), kā (K), el (L), em (M), en (N), ō (O), pē (P), kū (Q), er (R), es (S), tē (T), ū (V), ix / īx / ex (X), ȳ/ī graeca/ypsilon (Y), zēta (Z)

References

• em in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• em in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “em”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to sully one's fair fame: vitae splendori(em) maculas(is) aspergere
    
• Arthur E. Gordon, The Letter Names of the Latin Alphabet (University of California Press, 1973; volume 9 of University of California Publications: Classical Studies), especially pages 30–31, 42–44, and 63

Latvian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɛm]

Noun

em m (invariable)

1. The Latvian name of the Latin script letter M/m.

See also

• Latvian letter names:

  a (A), garais ā (Ā), bē (B), cē (C), čē (Č), dē (D), e (E), garais ē (Ē), ef (F), gā (G), ģē (Ģ), hā (H), i (I), garais ī (Ī), jē (J), kā (K), ķē (Ķ), el (L), eļ (Ļ), em (M), en (N), eņ (E), o (O), pē (P), er (R), es (S), eš (Š), tē (T), u (U), garais ū (Ū), vē (V), zē (Z), žē (Ž)

Luxembourgish

Pronoun

em

1. unstressed form of him

Declension

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese en, from Latin in ‎(“in”), from Proto-Indo-European *én ‎(“in”).

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ẽj̃/, /ĩ/
  • Homophone: hein
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɐ̃j̃/
  • Homophone: hem

Preposition

em

1. in; inside; within (contained by)

   Estou na minha casa.‎

   I’m in my house.

   Encontraram umas moedas no baú.‎

   They found some coins inside the chest.

2. on; on top of (located just above the surface of)
   • 2003, J. K. Rowling, Lya Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix, Rocco, page 417:

     Então o sorriso reapareceu em seu rosto [...]

     Then the smile reappeared on his face [...]

   O livro está na mesa.‎

   The book is on the table.

3. in; at (located in a location)

   Os soldados estão na Crimeia.‎

   The soldiers are in Crimea.

4. in (part of; a member of)

   Só três jogadores ainda estão nesse time.‎

   Only three players are still in this team.

5. in; into; inside (towards the inside of)

   A água entrou em várias casas.‎

   The water got into various houses.

6. in (pertaining to the particular thing)

   Ela não passou em inglês.‎

   She didn’t pass in English.

7. in (immediately after a period of time)

   Entraremos em contato com você em duas semanas.‎

   We will get in contact with you in two weeks.

8. in; during (within a period of time)

   O jornal será publicado no dia cinco.‎

   The newspaper will be published on the fifth.

9. at; in (in a state of)

   Estamos em perigo!‎

   We’re in danger!

10. in (indicates means, medium, format, genre or instrumentality)

    Fomos pagos em moeda estrangeira.‎

    We were paid in foreign currency.

11. in (indicates a language, script, tone etc. of writing, speaking etc.)

    Li um livro em holandês.‎

    I read a book in Dutch.

12. in (wearing)

    A moça em preto.‎

    The lady in black.

Quotations

For usage examples of this term, see Citations:em.

Synonyms

• (inside): dentro de
• (on): em cima de
• (part of): parte de
• (into): para dentro de
• (immediately after): logo depois/após
• (during): durante
• (wearing): de, vestido de, vestindo

Usage notes

When followed by an article, a pronoun, a demonstrative pronoun or adjective, em is combined with the next word to give the following combined forms:

Scots

Verb

em

1. (South Scots) Emphatic first-person singular simple present form of ti be

See also

• er
• es
• im

Swedish

Alternative forms

• em.
• e.m.
• e. m.

Abbreviation

em

1. pm (indicating hours in the afternoon); Abbreviation of eftermiddagen.

Usage notes

• Since the 1960s, Sweden primarily uses the 24 hour clock, making am/pm abbreviations unnecessary and less common

Antonyms

• fm

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English him.

Pronoun

em

1. The third person singular pronoun refers to a person or thing other than the speaker or the person being spoken to. Pronouns in Tok Pisin are not inflected for different cases.
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Genesis 1:15 (translation here):

     God i mekim kamap tupela bikpela lait. Bikpela em san bilong givim lait long de, na liklik em mun bilong givim lait long nait. Na God i mekim kamap ol sta tu.

Derived terms

• em tasol

Related terms

• -im

See also

Torres Strait Creole

Etymology

From English him.

Pronoun

em

1. he/she/it (third-person singular pronoun)

Veps

Verb

em

1. first-person plural present of ei

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *ʔɛːm, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *(sʔ)iəm

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɛm˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɛm˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʔɛm˧˥]

Noun

em ‎(俺, 㛪, 腌)

1. younger sibling

Derived terms

• em trai ‎(“younger brother”)
• em gái ‎(“younger sister”)

Pronoun

em ‎(俺, 㛪, 腌)

1. (familiar) I; me (when you speak to a person who is (presumably) not much older than you, or your teacher)
2. (familiar) you (when you speak to a person who is (presumably) not much younger than you, or your student)

Synonyms

• con

Adjective

em ‎(俺, 㛪, 腌)

1. small; smaller

Antonyms

• chị