ruminate

English

WOTD – 21 November 2006

Etymology

1533, "to turn over in the mind," also "to chew cud" (1547), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin rūminātus, past participle of rūmināre (“to chew the cud, turn over in the mind”), from rūmen (“the throat, gullet”), of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹumɪneɪt/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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Verb

1. (intransitive) To chew cud. (Said of ruminants.) Involves regurgitating partially digested food from the rumen.

   A camel will ruminate just as a cow will.

2. (intransitive) To meditate or reflect.

   I didn't answer right away because I needed to ruminate first.

3. (transitive) To meditate or ponder over; to muse on.
   • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     What I know / Is ruminated, plotted, and set down.

   • (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Mad with desire, she ruminates her sin.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:ponder
• Or Thesaurus:think

Derived terms

• ruminator

Related terms

• rumen
• ruminant
• rumination

Translations

to chew cud

• Arabic: اجْتَرَّ (ijtarra)

  Moroccan Arabic: جرّ (jərr)

• Armenian: որոճալ (hy) (oročal)
• Aromanian: aroamig
• Assamese: পাগুলা (pagula)
• Bulgarian: преживям, предъвквам (preživjam, predǎvkvam)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 反芻／反刍 (faan² co¹), 反刍 (faan² co¹)

  Hakka: 倒草 (to-chó)

  Mandarin: 反芻／反刍 (zh) (fǎnchú), 反刍 (zh) (fǎnchú)

  Min Nan: 翻草 (huan-chháu)

• Czech: přežvykovat
• Danish: drøvtygge, tygge drøv
• Dutch: herkauwen (nl)
• Faroese: jótra
• Finnish: märehtiä (fi)
• French: ruminer (fr)
• German: wiederkäuen (de)

  Alemannic German: beibe

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: μηρυκάζω (el) (mirykázo)
• Hungarian: kérődzik (hu)
• Icelandic: jórtra
• Italian: ruminare (it)
• Latin: rūmīnō
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tygge drøv, drøvtygge

  Nynorsk: jorte, ørte

• Persian: ژاویدن (žāvidan)
• Portuguese: ruminar (pt), rumiar (pt)
• Quechua: kutipakuy
• Romanian: rumega (ro)
• Russian: жева́ть жвачку (ževátʹ žvačku)
• Scottish Gaelic: cnuasaich, ath-chagainn
• Spanish: rumiar (es)
• Swedish: idisla
• Tashelhit: ⴼⴰⵥⵥ (faẓẓ)
• Telugu: నెమరువేయు (te) (nemaruvēyu)
• Walloon: roemyî (wa)

to meditate

• Armenian: խորհրդածել (hy) (xorhrdacel)
• Czech: přemítat (cs)
• Finnish: märehtiä (fi)
• French: ruminer (fr)
• German: grübeln (de)
• Greek: σκέφτομαι (el) (skéftomai), καλοσκέφτομαι (kaloskéftomai), στοχάζομαι (el) (stocházomai), συλλογίζομαι (el) (syllogízomai)
• Hungarian: rágódik (hu), mereng (hu), elmélkedik (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: whakaraupeka
• Norwegian: tygge på
• Portuguese: ruminar (pt), remoer (pt)
• Romanian: rumega (ro) (o idee)
• Scottish Gaelic: cnuasaich
• Spanish: rumiar (es) (colloquial)

Adjective

ruminate (not comparable)

1. (botany) Having a hard albumen penetrated by irregular channels filled with softer matter, as the nutmeg and the seeds of the North American papaw.

   a ruminate endosperm

See also

• chew the cud

Further reading

• “ruminate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ruminate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “ruminate”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

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Italian

Verb

ruminate

1. second-person plural present indicative of ruminare
2. second-person plural imperative of ruminare
3. feminine plural of ruminato

Anagrams

• numerati

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Latin

Participle

(deprecated template usage) rūmināte

1. vocative masculine singular of rūminātus