some
/sʌm/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 6.20 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
pron
det
A nonzero, unspecified proportion of (a bounded set of countable things): at least two.
det
An unspecified amount of (something uncountable).
det
A certain, an unspecified or unknown.
Example Sentences
- "Some enjoy spicy food, others prefer it milder."
- "Hidden behind thickets of acronyms and gorse bushes of detail, a new great game is under way across the globe. Some call it geoeconomics, but it's geopolitics too. The current power play consists of an extraordinary range of countries simultaneously sitting down to negotiate big free trade and investment agreements."
- "Can I have some of them?"
- "Please give me some of the cake."
- "Everyone is wrong some of the time."
- "Euery counseller extolleth counsell; but there is some that counselleth for himselfe."
Etymology
From Middle English som, sum, from Old English sum (“some, a certain one”), from Proto-West Germanic *sum, from Proto-Germanic *sumaz (“some, a certain one”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one, whole”). Cognate Scots sum, some (“some”), North Frisian som, sam, säm (“some”), West Frisian sommige, somlike (“some”), dialectal Dutch som, saom (“some”), standard Dutch sommige (“some”), Low German somige (“some”), German dialectal summige (“some”), Danish somme (“some”), Swedish somlig (“some”), Norwegian sum, som (“some”), Icelandic sumur (“some”), Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌼𐍃 (sums, “one, someone”). More at same.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /sʌm/
- British English: /sʌm/