em

See also: Appendix:Variations of "em"

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĕm, IPA^(key): /ɛm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛm

Etymology 1

The typographic em is named after the metal type for the capital M in early printing, whose body was square (the printed letter M is almost never one em in width).

Noun

em ‎(plural ems)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter M/m.

   The ems and ens at the beginnings and ends.

2. (typography) A unit of measurement equal to the height of the type in use.

Synonyms

• (typography): quad, em quad
• (typography): mutton, mut

Derived terms

• emcee
• em dash

Translations

name of the letter M, m

• Arabic: إِم m ‎(ʾem)
• Catalan: ema (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (English letter names are called as in English, no other standard Mandarin name exists)

• Esperanto: mo (eo)
• Finnish: äm (fi)
• French: emme (fr) m
• Galician: eme (gl) m
• Greek: έμ ‎(ém)
• Hawaiian: mū
• Hindi: एम् ‎(ēm), एम (hi) ‎(em)
• Ido: me (io)
• Irish: eim, muin

• Japanese: エム (ja) ‎(emu)
• Korean: 엠 ‎(em)
• Latin: em (la)
• Malay: em
• Marathi: एम ‎(ema)
• Persian: ام (fa) ‎(em)
• Portuguese: eme (pt) m
• Russian: эм (ru) n ‎(em)
• Spanish: eme (es) f
• Tagalog: em
• Thai: เอ็ม (th) ‎(em)
• Turkish: me (tr)
• Ukrainian: ем ‎(em)
• Vietnamese: em-mờ, em (vi), mờ (vi)

typographic unit

• Swedish: fyrkant (sv), fyrkantsvärde, Åp-höjd

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 Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} emme (it) m, f

See also

• (Latin-script letter names) letter; a, bee, cee, dee, e, ef, gee, aitch, i, jay, kay, el, em, en, o, pee, cue, ar, ess, tee, u, vee, double-u, ex, wye, zee/zed ^{(Category: en:Latin letter names)}

Etymology 2

Wikipedia

Coined by Christine M. Elverson by removing the "th" from them, perhaps influenced by 'em.

Pronoun

em ‎(third-person singular, gender-neutral, objective case, reflexive emself, possessive eir)

1. (neologism) them (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular object pronoun, coordinate with him and her.
   • 1986 April 1, Spivak, Michael, The Joy of TeX: A Gourmet Guide to Typesetting with the AMS-TeX macro package^[1], Providence: American Mathematical Society, ISBN 0821829998, LCCN 85007506, LCC Z253.4.T47 S673 1986, page 68:

     If the author uses such notation, it should be up to Em to indicate Eir intentions clearly, but there's no harm checking first.

   • 1997, Shaviro, Steven, Doom Patrols : A Theoretical Fiction About Postmodernism, London: Serpent's Tail, ISBN 9781852424305, LCCN 9668813, page 138:

     I may become quite intimate with someone, spend hours with em every night, and yet not have the slightest idea what eir voice sounds like, or what eir RL body looks, feels, and smells like.

   • 2000, Love, Jane, “Ethics, Plugged and Unplugged: The Pegagogy of Disorderly Conduct”, in Inman, James A.; Sewell, Donna N., editors, Taking flight with OWLs: Examining Electronic Writing Center Work^[2], Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0805831711, LCC PE1414.T24 1999, page 193:

     E invites em to consider how ey represent emselves^[sic], and in so doing, e focuses eir attention on the ethics that make human relations possible.

   • 2011 March 15, Edwards, RJ, “
2. 89: New Friend”, in Riot Nrrd^[3], retrieved 2012-10-06:

   And ultimately: I think my readers are mature enough that knowing eir assigned gender is not going to give them an “excuse” to misgender em.

Synonyms

• him or her, him/her
• (singular) them
• (neologism) hir

Derived terms

• (neologism) emself

Determiner

em

1. Eye dialect spelling of them, representing African American Vernacular English.

See also

• other attested and proposed gender-neutral pronouns

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ(ː)m/

Compare um.

Interjection

em

1. (Scotland, Ireland) a form of hesitant speech, or an expression of uncertainty; um; umm; erm

   She was going to, em... the salon, I think.

Anagrams

• me, ME, Me.

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin mē, from Proto-Indo-European *(e)me-.

Pronoun

em ‎(proclitic, contracted m', enclitic me, contracted enclitic 'm)

1. me (direct or indirect object)

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

	strong/subject	weak (direct object)		weak (indirect object)		possessive
singular		proclitic	enclitic	proclitic	enclitic
1st person	jo, mi3	em, m’	-me, ’m	em, m’	-me, ’m	meu
1st person majestic1	nós	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	tu	et, t’	-te, ’t	et, t’	-te, ’t	teu
2nd person formal1	vós	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person very formal2	vostè	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person masculine	ell	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person feminine	ella	la, l’4	-la	li	-li	seu
3rd person neuter		ho	-ho	li	-li	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
plural
1st person	nosaltres	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	vosaltres	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person formal2	vostès	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person masculine	ells	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person feminine	elles	les	-les	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
adverbial
ablative/genitive		en, n’	-ne, ’n
locative		hi	-hi
1) Behaves grammatically as plural. 2) Behaves grammatically as third person.			3) Only as object of a preposition. 4) Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

Related terms

• me
• mi
• jo

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Kurdish

Pronoun

em

1. we; us (first-person plural personal pronoun)

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /em/

Noun

em ‎(indeclinable)

1. The name of the letter M.

Usage notes

• Multiple Latin names for the letter M, m have been suggested. The most common is em or a syllabic m, although there is some evidence which also supports, as names for the letter, mē, əm, mə, and even (in the fourth- or fifth-century first Antinoë papyrus, which gives Greek transliterations of the Latin names of the Roman alphabet’s letters) ιμμε ‎(imme).

Coordinate terms

• (Latin’s names for the letters of its own alphabet): ā (A), bē (B), cē (C), dē (D), ē (E), ef (F), gē (G), hā (H), ī (I), kā (K), el (L), em (M), en (N), ō (O), pē (P), kū (Q), er (R), es (S), tē (T), ū (V), ix / īx / ex (X), ȳ/ī graeca/ypsilon (Y), zēta (Z)

References

• em in Charlton T. Lewis & Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• em in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• em in Félix Gaffiot (1934), Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book^[4], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to sully one's fair fame: vitae splendori(em) maculas(is) aspergere
    
• Arthur E. Gordon, The Letter Names of the Latin Alphabet (University of California Press, 1973; volume 9 of University of California Publications: Classical Studies), especially pages 30–31, 42–44, and 63

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Latvian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɛm]

(file)

Noun

em m (invariable)

1. The Latvian name of the Latin script letter M/m.

See also

• Latvian letter names:

  a (A), garais ā (Ā), bē (B), cē (C), čē (Č), dē (D), e (E), garais ē (Ē), ef (F), gā (G), ģē (Ģ), hā (H), i (I), garais ī (Ī), jē (J), kā (K), ķē (Ķ), el (L), eļ (Ļ), em (M), en (N), eņ (Ņ), o (O), pē (P), er (R), es (S), eš (Š), tē (T), u (U), garais ū (Ū), vē (V), zē (Z), žē (Ž)

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Luxembourgish

Pronoun

em

1. unstressed form of him

Declension

Luxembourgish personal pronouns

	nominative		accusative		dative		reflexive
	str.	unstr.	str.	unstr.	str.	unstr.
1st person singular	ech	—	mech	—	mir	mer	mech
2nd person singular (informal)	du	de	dech	—	dir	der	dech
2nd person singular (formal)	Dir	—	Iech	—	Iech	—	Iech
3rd person singular (m)	hien	en	en	—	him	em	sech
3rd person singular (f)	si / hatt	se / et	si / hatt	se / et	hir / him	— / em	sech
3rd person singular (n)	et	't	et	't	him	em	sech
1st person plural	mir	mer	eis / ons	—	eis / ons	—	eis / ons
2nd person plural	dir	der	iech	—	iech	—	iech
3rd person plural	si	—	si	—	hinnen	–	sech

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese en, from Latin in ‎(“in”), from Proto-Indo-European *én ‎(“in”).

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ẽj̃/, /ĩ/
  • Homophone: hein
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɐ̃j̃/
  • Homophone: hem

Preposition

em

1. in; inside; within (contained by)

   Estou na minha casa.‎

   I’m in my house.

   Encontraram umas moedas no baú.‎

   They found some coins inside the chest.

2. on; on top of (located just above the surface of)
   • 2003, J. K. Rowling, Lya Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix, Rocco, page 417:

     Então o sorriso reapareceu em seu rosto [...]

     Then the smile reappeared on his face [...]

   O livro está na mesa.‎

   The book is on the table.

3. in; at (located in a location)

   Os soldados estão na Crimeia.‎

   The soldiers are in Crimea.

4. in (part of; a member of)

   Só três jogadores ainda estão nesse time.‎

   Only three players are still in this team.

5. in; into; inside (towards the inside of)

   A água entrou em várias casas.‎

   The water got into various houses.

6. in (pertaining to the particular thing)

   Ela não passou em inglês.‎

   She didn’t pass in English.

7. in (immediately after a period of time)

   Entraremos em contato com você em duas semanas.‎

   We will get in contact with you in two weeks.

8. in; during (within a period of time)

   O jornal será publicado no dia cinco.‎

   The newspaper will be published on the fifth.

9. at; in (in a state of)

   Estamos em perigo!‎

   We’re in danger!

10. in (indicates means, medium, format, genre or instrumentality)

    Fomos pagos em moeda estrangeira.‎

    We were paid in foreign currency.

11. in (indicates a language, script, tone etc. of writing, speaking etc.)

    Li um livro em holandês.‎

    I read a book in Dutch.

12. in (wearing)

    A moça em preto.‎

    The lady in black.

Quotations

For usage examples of this term, see Citations:em.

Synonyms

• (inside): dentro de
• (on): em cima de
• (part of): parte de
• (into): para dentro de
• (immediately after): logo depois/após
• (during): durante
• (wearing): de, vestido de, vestindo

Usage notes

When followed by an article, a pronoun, a demonstrative pronoun or adjective, em is combined with the next word to give the following combined forms:

Contractions of em

Em + article Combined form em + o no em + a na em + os nos em + as nas em + um num em + uma numa em + uns nuns em + umas numas Em + pronoun Combined form em + ela nela em + elas nelas em + ele nele em + eles neles Em + dem. pronoun Combined form em + aquela naquela em + aquelas naquelas em + aquele naquele em + aqueles naqueles em + aquilo naquilo em + esse nesse em + essa nessa em + esses nesses em + essas nessas em + este neste em + esta nesta em + estes nestes em + estas nestas em + isso nisso em + isto nisto em + outra noutra em + outras noutras em + outro noutro em + outros noutros

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Scots

Verb

em

1. (South Scots) Emphatic first-person singular simple present form of ti be

See also

• er
• es
• im

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Swedish

Alternative forms

• em.
• e.m.
• e. m.

Abbreviation

em

1. pm (indicating hours in the afternoon); Abbreviation of eftermiddagen.

Usage notes

• Since the 1960s, Sweden primarily uses the 24 hour clock, making am/pm abbreviations unnecessary and less common

Antonyms

• fm

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Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English him.

Pronoun

em

1. The third person singular pronoun refers to a person or thing other than the speaker or the person being spoken to. Pronouns in Tok Pisin are not inflected for different cases.
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Genesis 1:15 (translation here):

     God i mekim kamap tupela bikpela lait. Bikpela em san bilong givim lait long de, na liklik em mun bilong givim lait long nait. Na God i mekim kamap ol sta tu.

Derived terms

• em tasol

Related terms

• -im

This entry has fewer than three known examples of actual usage, the minimum considered necessary for clear attestation, and may not be reliable. This language is subject to a special exemption for languages with limited documentation. If you speak it, please consider editing this entry or adding citations. See also Help and the Community Portal.

See also

Tok Pisin personal pronouns

			singular	dual	trial	plural
1st person			mi	mitupela (exclusive) yumitupela (inclusive)	mitripela (exclusive) yumitripela (inclusive)	mipela (exclusive) yumipela, yumi (inclusive)
2nd person			yu	yutupela	yutripela	yupela
3rd person			em	tupela	tripela	ol

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Torres Strait Creole

Etymology

From English him.

Pronoun

em

1. he/she/it (third-person singular pronoun)

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Veps

Verb

em

1. first-person plural present of ei

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Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *ʔɛːm, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *(sʔ)iəm

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɛm˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɛm˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʔɛm˧˥]

Noun

em ‎(俺, 㛪, 腌)

1. younger sibling

Derived terms

• em trai ‎(“younger brother”)
• em gái ‎(“younger sister”)

Pronoun

em ‎(俺, 㛪, 腌)

1. (familiar) I; me (when you speak to a person who is (presumably) not much older than you, or your teacher)
2. (familiar) you (when you speak to a person who is (presumably) not much younger than you, or your student)

Synonyms

• con

Adjective

em ‎(俺, 㛪, 腌)

1. small; smaller

Antonyms

• chị