um meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

um

intj

/ʌm/

Etymology Onomatopoeic.

Expression of hesitation, uncertainty or space filler in conversation.

Um, I don’t know.
Let’s see... um... how about this?

3 more examples

It's a great test of the claims of open-source gurus, who say that a self-motivated community can outcode any team working for a single employer—like, um, Microsoft.2002, “Newsweek”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 140, page lxxx:
As the years go by, speech reverts to childhood levels of disfluency, with more pauses, more errors, more repeated words, but even the peak years are not great: up to 8 percent of the average person’s word output consists of meaningless fillers and placeholders like um, uh and er.2007 August 24, William Grimes, “Uh, Lead My Rips: No More Bloopers”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2013:
Um And I don't know um what to say to the court other than, I don't know how we could get through 1/5 of that.2024 June 24, “Baldwin Judge on FIRE!”, in Law of Self Defense, page 2:

US Dated spelling of mmm.

"About the same, wherever you go," he agreed. "Um," I said.1963, Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle, Dell Publishing Co., Inc., page 65:

An expression to forcefully call attention to something wrong.

Um, excuse me!

Childish An expression of shocked disapproval used by a child who witnesses forbidden behavior.

While I was in her room, Sam walked by and said, “Um, I'm telling!” “You're telling what?” I asked. “You're reading Tori's journal,” she said.2011, Kimberly Willis Holt, Piper Reed: Clubhouse Queen, page 83:
Mair used to look after Laura. If anyone threatened to tease her, Mair would stand up straight, point her finger at the enemy and shout, 'Um! I'm telling on you!'2021, Sarah Strangeways, The Gingerbread House, page 13:

um

verb

Etymology Onomatopoeic.

To make the um sound to express uncertainty or hesitancy.

Meanwhile, in the popular mind umming was simply a bad habit, akin to spitting or picking one’s nose.2007, Michael Erard, Um... Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean, page 136:

um

noun

Etymology Onomatopoeic.

An occurrence of the interjection "um".

Although Shakespeare refers to “hums and ha’s,” sifting through etiquette manuals and public-speaking guides turns up scant evidence of a prohibition against ums, ers and uhs, which are profuse in the first recording of Thomas Edison’s voice, in 1888. Mr. Erard, rather ingeniously, traces the prohibition on um and other speech flaws to the advent of radio in the early 1920s.2007 August 24, William Grimes, “Uh, Lead My Rips: No More Bloopers”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 04 Jan 2013:

Derived terms: umbalite

um

particle

Etymology Variant form of -um.

Dated, Humorous, Offensive, Often, Sometimes An undifferentiated determiner or article; a miscellaneous linking word, or filler with nonspecific meaning; representation of broken English stereotypically or comically attributed to Native Americans.

Me be Injun. Him um Growling Bear. Him um heap big chief.
“me heap brave—me talk to um white man so[…] me good injun, like um white man, mebbe so, ugh!”1871, “Grand camp meeting on Bear River”, in The Keepapitchinin, volume III, page 3:

Related terms: um-hum

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.