amen

English

Etymology

From Old English, from Ecclesiastical Latin āmēn, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן‎ (ʾāmēn, “certainly, truly”) (cognate with Arabic آمِين‎ (ʾāmīn), Classical Syriac ܐܡܝܢ‎ ('āmēn)). In Old English, it was used only at the end of the Gospels. Elsewhere, it was translated as soðlic!, swa hit ys, and sy!.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /eɪˈmɛn/, /ɑːˈmɛn/, /ˈeɪ.mɛn/
    • Until c. 1920 the pronunciation /eɪˈmɛn/ was universal. Thereafter, with the "reformed" pronunciation of ancient languages, /ɑːˈmɛn/ gradually prevailed, though (particularly in spoken prayer) /eɪˈmɛn/ can still be heard, especially in the US.
  • Rhymes: -ɛn

Adverb

amen (not comparable)

  1. At the end of religious prayers: so be it.
    • 1662, Book of Common Prayer:
      Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
    • KJV, Nehemiah 5:13:
      Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise. — Nehemiah 5:13, KJV
    • KJV, Psalm 72:18-19:
      Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.
  2. In many Abrahamic religious texts and creeds: truly, verily.
    • Rhemish Translation, John 3:5:
      Amen, amen, I say to thee, except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Interjection

amen

  1. An expression of strong agreement.
    • 1999 May, Matt Groening, “Hell Is Other Robots”, Futurama, season 1, episode 9
      Fry: Bender's stupid religion is driving me nuts! / Leela: Amen!

Translations

Noun

amen (plural amens)

  1. An instance of saying ‘amen’.
    • 2006, Evault Boswell, The Iron Mountain Baby
      A chorus of amens rang out across the audience.
  2. A title of Christ; the Faithful One (especially with reference to Revelation 3:14)
    • 1611, — Revelation 3:14, KJV
      And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Verb

amen (third-person singular simple present amens, present participle amening, simple past and past participle amened)

  1. (intransitive) To say amen.
    • 1942, Emily Carr, The Book of Small, "Sunday,"
      The moment Dr. Reid amened, we rushed straight out of the church off home.
    • 2015, T. M. Young, Much Given, Much Required (page xxx)
      Most of the church amened and applauded.
    • 2015, Jewelle Francis, Manifest Destiny
      She must be thinking Reverend Hopkins is talking directly to her, because she starts amening and shouting real loud when he gets to the part in Proverbs […]

Translations

Anagrams

Catalan

Verb

amen

  1. third-person plural present indicative form of amar

Cebuano

Etymology

From Spanish amén, from Latin āmēn, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Hebrew אמן‎ (amén, “certainly, truly”).

The gesture evolved from the custom of kissing the ecclesiastical ring of Catholic clergymen.

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: a‧men

Adverb

amen

  1. at the end of religious prayers: so be it

Interjection

amen

  1. an expression of strong agreement

Verb

amen

  1. to touch one's forehead to the back of an older person's hand as a gesture of respect
  2. to hold out one's hand to someone, often a younger person, in order for them to touch it to their foreheads

Quotations

For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:amen.

Chuukese

Etymology

Borrowed from English amen.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /aˈmɛn/, /aˈbɛn/

Interjection

amen

  1. amen

Dutch

Etymology

From Latin āmēn, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אמן‎ (amén, “certainly, truly”).

Pronunciation

  • Audio(file)

Interjection

amen

  1. amen; at the end of Judeo-Christian prayers: so be it
  2. amen; an expression of strong agreement

Noun

amen n (plural amens, diminutive amentje n)

  1. An instance of saying ‘amen’.

Derived terms

Esperanto

Interjection

amen

  1. amen

French

Etymology

From Ecclesiastical Latin amen, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן‎ (ʾāmēn, “certainly, truly”)

Adverb

amen

  1. amen

Noun

amen m (plural amens)

  1. amen

Further reading

Anagrams

Galician

Verb

amen

  1. third-person plural present subjunctive of amar

Gothic

Romanization

amēn

  1. Romanization of 𐌰𐌼𐌴𐌽

Icelandic

Adverb

amen

  1. at the end of prayers: so be it
    Í guðanna bænum, amen.
    For God's sake, amen.
  2. at the end of a creeds or in Biblical translations: truly, verily

Interjection

amen

  1. expressing strong agreement

Anagrams

Italian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן‎ (ʾāmēn, “certainly, truly”) (cognate with Arabic آمِين‎ (ʾāmīn), Classical Syriac ܐܡܝܢ‎ ('āmēyn)).

Adverb

amen

  1. amen; so be it
  2. (colloquial) that's it; end of the story
    L'esame è andato male, pace e amen, fattene una ragione.
    The exam went bad, that's it, come to terms with it.

Interjection

amen

  1. amen!

Usage notes

  • Sense 2, similar to pace and va beh, is colloquial, and typically seen in the phrase pace e amen, as in the example.

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אָמֵן‎ (ʾāmēn, “certainly, truly”) (cognate with Arabic آمِين‎ (ʾāmīn), Classical Syriac ܐܡܝܢ‎ ('āmēyn)).

Pronunciation

Adverb

āmēn

  1. amen; so be it; truly

Interjection

āmēn

  1. amen!

References

Middle Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin āmēn.

Interjection

āmen

  1. amen, so be it

Descendants

Further reading

  • “amen”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
  • “amen”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929

Polish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈa.mɛn/
  • Audio(file)

Interjection

amen

  1. amen

Further reading

  • amen in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Interjection

amen

  1. Obsolete spelling of amém

Spanish

Verb

amen

  1. Second-person plural (ustedes) imperative form of amar.
  2. Second-person plural (ustedes) present subjunctive form of amar.
  3. Third-person plural (ellos, ellas, also used with ustedes?) present subjunctive form of amar.
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