amen

See also: Amen, ámen, amén, àmen, âmen, āmén, and åmen

English

Etymology

From Old English, from Ecclesiastical Latin āmēn, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אמן‏ (amén, “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/
• Rhymes: -ɛn

Usage note

Until c1920 the pronunciation /eɪˈmɛn/ was universal. Thereafter, with the "reformed" pronunciation of ancient languages, /ɑːˈmɛn/ gradually prevailed, though (particularly in spoken prayer) /eɪˈmɛn/ could still be heard at least as late as 2000.

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. At the end of a creed or in Biblical and Koranic translations: 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

so be it

• Amharic: አሜን (ʾämen)
• Arabic: آمِين‏‎ (ʾāmīn)
• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: אמן‏‎ (’āmēn)

  Syriac: ܐܡܝܢ‏‎ (’āmēn)

• Armenian: ամեն (hy) (amen)
• Bulgarian: амин (bg) (amin)
• Cherokee: ᎡᎺᏅ (emenv)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 阿們, 阿们 (aa³ mun⁴), 亞孟, 亚孟 (aa³ maang⁶) (Catholic), 誠心所願, 诚心所愿 (sing⁴ sam¹ so² jyun⁶)

  Hakka: 阿愐 (â-mén, a-mén)

  Mandarin: 阿門 (zh), 阿门 (zh) (āmén), 阿們 (zh), 阿们 (zh) (āmén), 亞孟, 亚孟 (yàmèng) (Catholic)

  Min Nan: a-men, à-bēng, 心所願, 心所愿 (sim-só͘-goān), 亞孟, 亚孟 (a-bēng) (Catholic)

• Czech: amen (cs)
• Danish: amen (da)
• Dutch: amen (nl)
• Esperanto: amen
• Estonian: aamen
• Faroese: amen, ámmin
• Finnish: aamen (fi)
• French: amen (fr)
• Georgian: ამინ (ka) (amin)
• German: Amen (de)
• Greek: αμήν (el) (amín)

  Ancient: ἀμήν (amḗn)

• Hausa: amin
• Hebrew: אמן‏‎ (he) (amén)
• Hungarian: ámen (hu)

• Icelandic: amen
• Italian: amen (it), così sia (it)
• Japanese: アーメン (ja) (āmen)
• Kazakh: аумин (awmïn)
• Korean: 아멘 (amen)
• Latin: āmēn (la)
• Latvian: āmen
• Lithuanian: amen
• Malay: amin
• Maori: āmine, āmene
• Middle English: zuo by hit
• Navajo: tʼáá ákótʼée doo
• Norwegian: amen (no)
• Persian: آمین‏‎ (fa) (âmin)
• Polish: amen (pl)
• Portuguese: amém (pt)
• Romanian: amin (ro)
• Russian: ами́нь (ru) (amínʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: amen
• Slovak: amen
• Slovene: amen (sl)
• Spanish: amén (es)
• Swedish: amen (sv)
• Tok Pisin: tru
• Turkish: amin (tr)
• Veps: amin'
• Yiddish: אָמן‏‎ (omeyn)

truly, verily

• Arabic: آمِين‏‎ (ʾāmīn)
• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: אמן‏‎ (’āmēyn)

  Syriac: ܐܡܝܢ‏‎ (’āmēyn)

• Armenian: ամեն (hy) (amen)
• Bulgarian: амин (bg) (amin)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 阿們, 阿们 (aa³ mun⁴), 亞孟, 亚孟 (aa³ maang⁶) (Catholic)

  Mandarin: 阿門 (zh), 阿门 (zh) (āmén), 阿們 (zh), 阿们 (zh) (āmén), 亞孟, 亚孟 (yàmèng) (Catholic)

• Czech: amen (cs)
• Dutch: amen (nl)
• Finnish: totisesti
• French: amen (fr)

• German: Amen (de)
• Greek: αμήν (el) (amín)
• Italian: amen (it)
• Japanese: アーメン (ja) (āmen)
• Kazakh: аумин (awmïn)
• Korean: 아멘 (amen)
• Malay: amin
• Polish: amen (pl)
• Portuguese: amém (pt)
• Russian: ами́нь (ru) (amínʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: amen
• Tok Pisin: tru

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.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: amen
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} אמן‏‎ (’amîn)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} amen
• Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} amîn (ku)
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} آمین‏‎ (fa) (âmin)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} amin

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} amin
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} амин

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} amin

• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} amen (sv)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} amin

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

expression of strong agreement

• Arabic: آمْيْن‏‎ (ʾāmyn)
• Aramaic: ܐܡܝܢ‏‎ (amyn)
• Armenian: ամեն (hy) (amen)
• Catalan: amén (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 阿門 (zh), 阿门 (zh) (āmén)

• Dutch: amen (nl), amen en uit
• Esperanto: amen
• French: amen (fr)
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌼𐌴𐌽 (amēn)

• Greek: αμήν (el) (amín)
• Hebrew: אמן‏‎ (he) (amen)
• Irish: áiméan
• Japanese: 南無三 (なむさん, namusan), アーメン (ja) (āmen)
• Kazakh: аумин (awmïn)
• Korean: 아멘 (amen)
• Polish: amen (pl)
• Portuguese: amém (pt)
• Turkish: amin (tr)
• Yiddish: אָמן‏‎ (omeyn)

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

instance of saying amen

• Portuguese: amém (pt) m

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.

Translations to be checked

• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: אמין (’āmēyn)

  Syriac: ܐܡܝܢ (’āmēyn)

• Dutch: amen, beaming
• French: amen (fr) m
• Persian: آمین

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," [1]

     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

say amen

• Portuguese: dizer amém, dar amém

Anagrams

• -mane, -nema, Eman, Enma, MEAN, MENA, Mena, NAmE, NEMA, NMEA, mane, mean, mnae, name, namé, neam, ñame

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Catalan

Verb

amen

1. third-person plural present indicative form of amar

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Cebuano

Etymology

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

Noun

amen

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

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Chuukese

Etymology

Borrowed from English amen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈmɛn/, aˈbɛn

Interjection

amen

1. amen

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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

• beamen

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Esperanto

Interjection

amen

1. amen

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French

Etymology

From Ecclesiastical Latin amen, from Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn); see etymology for English amen (above).

Adverb

amen

1. amen

Noun

amen m (plural amens)

1. amen

Further reading

• “amen” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• mena

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Galician

Verb

amen

1. third-person plural present subjunctive of amar

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Gothic

Romanization

amēn

1. Romanization of 𐌰𐌼𐌴𐌽

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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

• nema

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Italian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀμήν (amḗn), from Biblical Hebrew אמן‏ (amén, “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.

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Latin

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈaː.meːn/
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.men/, [ˈaː.men]

Adverb

āmēn

1. amen; so be it; truly

Interjection

āmēn

1. amen!

References

• amen in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• du Cange, Charles (1883), “amen”, in G. A. Louis Henschel, Pierre Carpentier, Léopold Favre, editors, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (in Latin), Niort: L. Favre
• “amen” in Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)

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Middle Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin āmēn.

Interjection

āmen

1. amen, so be it

Descendants

• Dutch: amen
• Limburgish: ame

Further reading

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

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈamɛn/

• Audio

  (file)

Interjection

amen

1. amen

Further reading

• amen in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Portuguese

Interjection

amen

1. Obsolete spelling of amém

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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.