gum
/ɡʌm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.94 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To chew, especially of a toothless person or animal.
verb
To deepen and enlarge the spaces between the teeth of (a worn saw), as with a gummer.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "gum arabic"
- "gum-oleo-resin"
- "gum benzoin"
- "[…] becoomed wi' the gum o' the coal-hill […]"
- "Do you have a gum to spare?"
- "Levi unwrapped a gum and put it in his mouth."
Etymology
From Middle English gom, gome, gomme, goome, gum, gume, gumme, from Old English gōma (“palate”), from Proto-West Germanic *gōmō, from Proto-Germanic *gaumô, *gōmô (“palate”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- (“to gape, yawn”). Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian gaumo (“palate”), German Gaum, Gaumen (“palate”), Luxembourgish Gomm, Gumm (“palate”), Yiddish גומען (gumen, “palate”), Danish gumme (“gums”), Icelandic gómur (“gum”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish gom (“palate”); also Latin hio (“to gape, yawn”), Ancient Greek χάσκω (kháskō, “to gape, yawn”), Lithuanian gomurỹs (“palate”), Bulgarian зе́я (zéja, “to gape”), Czech zát, zet (“to gape”), Polish ziać (“to pant”), Russian зия́ть (zijátʹ, “to gape, yawn”), Serbo-Croatian зи́јати, zíjati (“to gape, yawn”), Ukrainian зя́яти (zjájaty, “to gape”), Tocharian A koy- (“mouth”), Tocharian B koyn (“mouth”). More at yawn.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
- Transitive verb
- Uncountable
- Countable
- American usage
- Colloquial