'em
/əm/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.57 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
2
Letters
1
Syllables
2
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Some are become great, ſome atcheeues greatneſſe, and ſome haue greatneſſe thruſt vppon em."
- "Toute la Chine eſt diviſée en ſeize Provinces qui valent mieux chacune que de grands Royaumes. Il y en a dix vers le Midi ſçavoir Yunnan , Quanſi, Canton, Fuquiem, Chequiam, Nankin , Kiamſi , Huqüam, Suſcüem & Quicheu."
- "We cannot reasonably ſuppoſe that Adam, who was ſo univerſally Skill'd in the Natures of all Plants, ſhould have been ignorant of their Vulnerary Qualities: Or that he would not employ this his Skill in endeavouring to cure Wounds, or Hurts, when any of his new-planted Stock had the Misfortune te receive 'em."
- "Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester, same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting ’em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season."
- "Harkin: I spent twenty years working cases here on the Citadel. People on this station love to talk. Secrets are like herpes. If you got 'em, you might as well spread 'em around."
- "We've literally had dozens of your photographs submitted this week – keep ’em coming!"
Etymology
From earlier hem, from Middle English hem, from Old English heom (“them”, dative) of hie, originally a dative plural form but in Middle English coming to serve as an accusative plural as well. Cognate with Dutch hun (“them”), German ihnen (“them”). Now often treated as a colloquial apheretic form of them, which however derives from Old Norse rather than Old English.