wem

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /wɛm/

Etymology 1

From Middle English wem, wemme, from Old English wamm (“stain, spot, scar, disgrace, defect, defilement, sin, evil, crime, injury, loss, hurt, misfortune”), from Proto-Germanic *wammaz (“stain, spot”), from Proto-Indo-European *wemh₁- (“to spew, vomit”). Cognate with Icelandic vamm (“loss, damage”), Latin vomō (“vomit”, verb) (English vomit), Ancient Greek ἐμέω (eméō, “I spew”) (English emesis), Lithuanian vemti (“to vomit”), Sanskrit वमति (vamati, “to vomit”)

Alternative forms

Noun

wem (plural wems)

  1. (Britain dialectal) A spot; stain; mark; scar; weal; bruise.
  2. (Britain dialectal) A (moral) blemish; fault; blemish; taint.
  3. (Britain dialectal) Neglect; damage.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle English wemmen, from Old English wemman (“to defile, besmirch, profane, injure, ill-treat, destroy, abuse, revile”), from Proto-Germanic *wammijaną (“to stain”), from Proto-Indo-European *wem- (“to spew, vomit”).

Verb

wem (third-person singular simple present wems, present participle wemming, simple past and past participle wemmed)

  1. (transitive, Britain dialectal) To injure or disfigure; blemish; mark; scar.
  2. (transitive, Britain dialectal) To defile; pollute; corrupt; vitiate.
  3. (transitive, Britain dialectal) To violate (one's word).

Derived terms

Anagrams

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /veːm/

Pronoun

wem

  1. (interrogative) dative of wer, (to) whom (indirect object).

Further reading

  • wem in Duden online
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