SMS

See also: sms, SMs, šms, and sms'

English

Alternative forms

• S.M.S., S. M. S.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɛs ɛm ˈɛs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛs

Etymology 1

Proper noun

SMS

1. (telecommunications) Initialism of short message service: a system enabling cell phones to send or receive text messages.

   Coordinate term: MMS

   • 2007 October 15, Eric Newman, “iPhone is different things to different dudes”, in Brandweek‎^[1], volume 48, →ISSN, page 226:

     The second spot, “One Thing,” shows the unlikely custom car shop workin', musclebound dude-bro, who loves his iPhone because it consolidates the iPod, camera, cell phone and SMS device he used to carry around in “a little bag.”

   • 2023 February 18, Ramishah Maruf, “Twitter to charge for SMS two-factor authentication”, in CNN Business‎^[2]:

     As of 2021, only 2.6% of Twitter users had a 2FA method enabled – and of those, 74.4% used SMS authentication, a Twitter account security report said.

Noun

SMS (countable and uncountable, plural SMSes or SMSs)

1. (countable) A text message sent using the short message service.

   Synonym: text

   Coordinate term: MMS

   • 2004 July 5, Nicola Clark, “Wireless: Consumers seek help in cutting mobile spam”, in The New York Times‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 September 2025:

     The Empower Interactive survey found that more than 7 of 10 cellphone users considered any form of unsolicited SMSs, or text messages, unacceptable.

2. (numismatics) Initialism of special mint set.
3. Initialism of salesman sample.
4. (genetics, pathology) Initialism of Smith-Magenis syndrome.
5. (psychology) Initialism of short man syndrome.
6. (neurology) Initialism of stiff man syndrome.

   Synonym: SPS

7. Initialism of safety management system: a system designed to identify and manage occupational safety and health risks.
8. Initialism of senior minister of state.

Translations

a text message sent on a cell phone

• Afrikaans: SMS (af)
• Arabic: رِسَالَة f (risāla), رِسَالَة إِس إِم إِس f (risālat ʔes ʔem ʔes)

  Hijazi Arabic: رِسالة m (risāla)

  Moroccan Arabic: ميساج (mīsāž)

• Bulgarian: съобщение (bg) n (sǎobštenie), есемес m (esemes)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 短信 (zh) (duǎnxìn), SMS (zh) (es-em-es)

• Czech: esemeska (cs) f, textovka f
• Dutch: sms (nl) m, sms-bericht (nl) n
• Finnish: tekstiviesti (fi)
• French: SMS (fr) m, texto (fr) m
• Georgian: მოკლე ტექსტური შეტყობინება (moḳle ṭeksṭuri šeṭq̇obineba), SMS შეტყობინება (SMS šeṭq̇obineba), ეს-ემ-ესი (es-em-esi)
• German: SMS (de) f or n, SMS-Nachricht f, Textnachricht (de) f
• Greek: μήνυμα (el) n (mínyma)
• Hebrew: סמס (he)
• Japanese: 伝言 (ja) (でんごん, dengon), エス・エム・エス (esu-emu-esu), ＳＭＳ (esu-emu-esu)
• Latvian: īsziņa f
• Persian: اس ام اس (es-em-es), مسج (mesej), پیامک (fa) (payâmak)
• Polish: SMS (pl) m, esemes (pl) m
• Portuguese: mensagem de texto f, SMS (pt) m
• Russian: SMS (ru) m, эс-эм-э́с m (es-em-és), (colloquial) эсэмэ́ска (ru) f (esɛmɛ́ska), сообще́ние (ru) n (soobščénije), (slang) ме́сседж (ru) m (méssedž) , СМС (ru) m (SMS)
• Swahili: ujumbe mfupi (sw)
• Swedish: sms (sv)
• Tamil: குறுஞ்செய்தி (ta) (kuṟuñceyti)
• Turkish: SMS (tr), mesaj (tr), kısa mesaj

Verb

SMS (third-person singular simple present SMSes, present participle SMSing, simple past and past participle SMSed or SMS'd)

1. To send a message on a cell phone via short message service.

   Synonym: text

   I SMSed him and asked why he was late.

   I can't talk to her: she is too busy SMSing her friends.

   • 2011 January, Smita Kaushik, Utkarsh Roy, Let's Get Committed…, New Delhi: Mahaveer Publishers, →ISBN, page 44:

     He picked up his cell and SMSed Radhika. “HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! See, this time, I was the first one to wish.’

Translations

to send a message on a cell phone

• Afrikaans: SMS (af)
• Dutch: sms'en (nl)
• Finnish: lähettää tekstiviesti
• Georgian: შეტყობინების გაგზავნა (šeṭq̇obinebis gagzavna), დამესიჯება (damesiǯeba) (colloquial)
• Hebrew: סימס (he) (simés)
• Polish: esemesować (pl) impf, SMS-ować (pl) impf, tekstować (pl) impf
• Tamil: குறுஞ்செய்தி அனுப்பு (kuṟuñceyti aṉuppu)

Derived terms

• smishing
• SMSer

See also

• Appendix:Glossary of textspeak

Proper noun

SMS

1. (video games) Initialism of Sega Master System.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from German SMS.

Noun

SMS (uncountable)

1. (military, nautical, initialism) SMS — Seiner Majestät Schiff – literally, "His Majesty's Ship" in German;

   Coordinate terms: HM, HMS, HBMS, HSMS, HSwMS, HDMS, HDaMS, HNLMS, HNMS, HNoMS

   Coordinate terms: SM, Zr.Ms., Hr.Ms.

   1. A ship prefix for a ship in the navy of the Empire of Germany (usually for the period leading to WWI and WWI)

      Synonym: HIGMS

Anagrams

• MSS, MSS., MSs, Mss, Mss., SSM, mss, mss.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

SMS

1. misspelling of sms

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ.sɛ.mɛs/ ~ /e.se.mɛs/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

SMS m (invariable)

1. SMS, text, text message

   Synonym: (France) texto

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɛsʔɛmˈʔɛs/ (official standard)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˌɛsɛˈmɛs/, /-se-/, /-zɛ-/, /-ze-/ (common speech, for Etymology 1)

Etymology 1

Noun

SMS f or n (strong or mixed, genitive SMS, plural SMS or SMSen or SMSe)

1. SMS (text message)

Usage notes

• The noun is almost exclusively feminine in northern Germany, central Germany, and Luxembourg. The neuter gender is predominant in the southern half of the language area, but the feminine is also heard.
• The unchanged plural SMS is generally used with the neuter gender. The form SMSe is rarer.
• With the feminine, the marked form SMSen is often needed to express the plural, but the unchanged form can be used when the plural is evident from the grammatical construction or the context.

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• S. M. S.

Noun

SMS

1. (nautical, military) SMS — Seiner Majestät Schiff (His Majesty's Ship)

Usage notes

Used for naval ships of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Second Reich of Imperial Germany, for the Kaiserliche und Königliche Kriegsmarine and Kaiserliche Marine, respectively.

Descendants

• English: SMS

Hungarian

Etymology

Initialism of Short Message Service.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛʃɛmɛʃ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʃ

Noun

SMS (plural SMS-ek)

1. SMS, text message (a service for sending text messages on a cellular telephone system)

Declension

Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony)

	singular	plural
nominative	SMS	SMS-ek
accusative	SMS-t	SMS-eket
dative	SMS-nek	SMS-eknek
instrumental	SMS-sel	SMS-ekkel
causal-final	SMS-ért	SMS-ekért
translative	SMS-sé	SMS-ekké
terminative	SMS-ig	SMS-ekig
essive-formal	SMS-ként	SMS-ekként
essive-modal	SMS-ül	SMS-ekül
inessive	SMS-ben	SMS-ekben
superessive	SMS-en	SMS-eken
adessive	SMS-nél	SMS-eknél
illative	SMS-be	SMS-ekbe
sublative	SMS-re	SMS-ekre
allative	SMS-hez	SMS-ekhez
elative	SMS-ből	SMS-ekből
delative	SMS-ről	SMS-ekről
ablative	SMS-től	SMS-ektől
non-attributive possessive – singular	SMS-é	SMS-eké
non-attributive possessive – plural	SMS-éi	SMS-ekéi

Possessive forms of SMS

possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	SMS-em	SMS-eim
2nd person sing.	SMS-ed	SMS-eid
3rd person sing.	SMS-e	SMS-ei
1st person plural	SMS-ünk	SMS-eink
2nd person plural	SMS-etek	SMS-eitek
3rd person plural	SMS-ük	SMS-eik

Derived terms

• SMS-ezik

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛsˈɛm.ɛs/, [ɛsˈɛm.ɛs]

Noun

SMS (plural SMS-SMS)

1. (telecommunications) SMS (text message)

   Synonyms: layanan pesan singkat, surat masa singkat

2. (military) initialism of senapan mesin sedang (“medium machine gun”)

Further reading

• “SMS”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Italian

Noun

SMS m

1. SMS (text message)

Japanese

Noun

SMS(エスエムエス) • (esu-emu-esu) 

1. SMS

Synonyms

• 伝言(でんごん) (dengon)

Polish

SMS

Alternative forms

• sms

Etymology

Etymology tree

German SMSbor.

English SMSobor.

Polish SMS

Orthographic borrowing from English SMS.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛs.ɛmˈɛs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛs
• Syllabification: S‧M‧S

Noun

SMS m animal or m inan (related adjective SMS-owy)

1. (countable) SMS, text message (brief electronic message sent between mobile phones)

   Synonyms: es, esek, esemes, eska

2. (uncountable, telecommunications) short message service (system for transmitting text messages on mobile phones)

Declension

Declension of SMS

	singular	plural
nominative	SMS	SMS-y
genitive	SMS-a/SMS-u	SMS-ów
dative	SMS-owi	SMS-om
accusative	SMS-a/SMS	SMS-y
instrumental	SMS-em	SMS-ami
locative	SMS-ie	SMS-ach
vocative	SMS-ie	SMS-y

Derived terms

verbs

• SMS-ować impf

Further reading

• “SMS”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[4] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “SMS”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[5] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English SMS.

Noun

SMS m or f (invariable)

1. SMS; text message (a text message sent on a cell phone)

   Synonyms: mensagem de texto, (Brazil) torpedo

Further reading

• “SMS”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English SMS.

Noun

SMS n (plural SMS-uri)

1. SMS; text message (a text message sent on a cell phone)

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	SMS	SMS-ul	SMS-uri	SMS-urile
genitive-dative	SMS	SMS-ului	SMS-uri	SMS-urilor
vocative	SMS-ule		SMS-urilor

Synonyms

• mesaj SMS, mesaj scurt

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌese ˌeme ˈese/ [ˌe.se ˌe.me ˈe.se]

Noun

SMS m (plural SMS)

1. (telecommunications) SMS
   • 2013 April 17, “Revisa tu celular: estos son los países más afectados por el "malware"”, in CNN en Español‎^[6]:

     Los usuarios móviles también pueden ser engañados a través del llamado smishing; una combinación de las palabras SMS y phishing (donde un usuario recibe un mensaje de texto en el que se le pide información personal como un número de tarjeta de crédito o dirección de correo electrónico).

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “SMS”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025