Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

them

/ˈðɛm/

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 6.19 in modern English

Syllables: them
IPA: /ˈðɛm/

9

Scrabble Score

4

Letters

1

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

pron

pron

pron

pron

Colloquial

pron

pron

A single person, previously mentioned, whose gender is unknown, irrelevant, or (since 21st c.) non-binary.

pron

A single person, previously mentioned, whose gender is unknown, irrelevant, or (since 21st c.) non-binary.

pron

A single person, previously mentioned, whose gender is unknown, irrelevant, or (since 21st c.) non-binary.

Example Sentences

"She treated them for a cold."
"Proponents of adding a gender-neutral option to state identification documents say it would remove a form of discrimination against nonbinary people by providing them with the means to carry identification that matches their identity."
"She wrote them a letter."
"Give it to them."
"[...] and now them and the Goo Goo Dolls are playing together."
"[…]Illinois, told Christina Holmes Tillson (just arrived from Connecticut herself) : “I am getting skeery about them 'ere Yankees. There is such a power of them coming in that them and the Injuns will squatch out [everyone else]."

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *þaimaz Old Norse þeimbor. Middle English þem English them From Middle English þem, from Old Norse þeim.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: þem, þeim

Usage

Colloquial

Inflected Forms

of they (objective) dem (alternative, nonstandard) thems (plural)

Phrases

how about them apples how you get them is how you lose them if you can't beat them, join them if you can't lick them, join them let them eat cake mom and them some mothers do have them them all

Frequently Paired Words

boydem gentlethem how about them apples how you get them is how you lose them if you can't beat them, join them if you can't lick them, join them let them eat cake mom and them

Synonyms

they dem em 'em hem

Rhymes With

pm em stem gm fm gem atm condemn rpm chem rem prem

Questions

How do you pronounce them?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈðɛm/.
What does them mean?: Those ones.
Where does them come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce them

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “them”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈðɛm/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “them”.
Repeat and practice — Say “them” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.