semen

See also: Semen, sémen, semèn, and sêmen

English

Etymology

From Middle English semen, from Latin sēmen (“seed”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“to sow; plant”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiːmən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːmən
• Homophones: seaman, seamen

Noun

semen (uncountable)

1. A sticky, milky fluid produced in male reproductive organs that contains the reproductive cells.
   • 1959, William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, page 68

     Sharp protein odor of semen fills the air.

Synonyms

• (Male reproductory fluid): ejaculate, sperm; (slang): jissom, jism, jizz, spunk, cum, seed, spurt, spooge, splooge, load, skeet, squirt, spunk
• See also Thesaurus:semen

Derived terms

• semenlike
• semenologist
• semeny

Translations

male reproductory fluid

• Albanian: spermë (sq) f, lëng seminal m
• Arabic: مَنِيّ‎ m (maniyy)

  Egyptian Arabic: مني‎ m (mani), لبن‎ m (laban) (vulgar)

• Armenian: սերմ (hy) (serm), սերմնահեղուկ (hy) (sermnahełuk)
• Asturian: semen (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: toxum (az)
• Bashkir: мәней (mäney), аталыҡ орлоғо (atalïq orloğo)
• Basque: hazi
• Belarusian: спе́рма f (spjérma), се́мя (be) n (sjémja), кнура́ f (knurá), насе́нне n (nasjénnje)
• Bengali: বীর্য (bn) (birjô)
• Bikol Central: kasit
• Bulgarian: спе́рма f (spérma), семенна течност f (semenna tečnost)
• Burmese: သုက် (my) (suk), သုက်ရည် (suk-rany)
• Catalan: esperma (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 精液 (zing¹ jik⁶)

  Mandarin: 精液 (zh) (jīngyè)

  Min Nan: 精水 (cheng-chúi), 潲 (zh-min-nan) (siâu)

• Czech: semeno (cs) n, ejakulát (cs) m, sperma (cs) n
• Danish: sæd (da)
• Dutch: sperma (nl)
• Dzongkha: ཐིག་ལེ (thig le)
• Egyptian: (mtwt)
• Esperanto: ejakulaĵo, spermo
• Estonian: seemnevedelik, sperma (et)
• Faroese: sáð n, spin n
• Finnish: siemenneste (fi), sperma (fi)
• French: semence (fr) f, sperme (fr) m
• Galician: seme (gl) m
• Gamilaraay: barabin
• Georgian: სპერმა (sṗerma), თესლი (ka) (tesli) (mildly vulgar)
• German: Samen (de) m
• Greek: σπέρμα (el) n (spérma)

  Ancient: θορός m (thorós)

• Greenlandic: anisooq, peersaq
• Gujarati: વીર્ય (vīrya)
• Hebrew: זֶרַע‎ (he) m (zera'), זִרְמָה‎ f (zirma)
• Hindi: वीर्य (hi) m (vīrya), शुक्र (hi) m (śukra)
• Hungarian: ondó (hu)
• Icelandic: sæði n, sáð n, sáðvökvi m, brundur m
• Indonesian: air mani, semen (id), sperma (id)
• Irish: seamhan m, síol m
• Italian: sperma (it) m, seme (it) m
• Japanese: 精液 (ja) (せいえき, seieki), ザーメン (zāmen)
• Karok: síshaf
• Khmer: ទឹកកាម (km) (tɨk kaam)
• Korean: 정액 (ko) (jeong-aek) (精液 (ko)), (slang) 좆물 (jonmul),
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: تۆو‎ (ku) (tow), تۆماو‎ (tomaw), تۆم‎ (tom)

  Northern Kurdish: sperma (ku)

• Kyrgyz: сперма (ky) (sperma)
• Lao: ອະສຸຈິ (ʼa su chi), ນ້ຳກາມ (nam kām)
• Latin: sēmen n
• Latvian: sēkla (lv) f, sperma f
• Lithuanian: sperma f, sėkla (lt) f
• Macedonian: сперма f (sperma)
• Malay: mani (ms)
• Malayalam: ശുക്ലം (ml) (śuklaṃ)
• Maltese: liba f
• Manchu: ᠣᠣᡵᡳ (oori)
• Maori: waitātea
• Marathi: रेत (ret)
• Navajo: íígąsh
• Norwegian: sæd m
• Persian: منی‎ (fa) (mani), اسپرم‎ (fa) (esperm)

  Middle Persian: šuhr

• Polish: sperma (pl) f, nasienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: sêmen (pt) m, sémen (pt) m
• Romanian: spermă (ro) f
• Russian: се́мя (ru) n (sémja), спе́рма (ru) f (spérma), эякуля́т (ru) m (ejakulját), молофья́ (ru) f (molofʹjá) (vulgar)
• Sami:

  Inari: siemâkolgos

  Northern: siemagolggus

  Skolt: siõmkoolǥâs

• Sanskrit: रेतस् (sa) n (retas)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сперма f

  Roman: sperma (sh) f

• Shan: ၼမ်ႉၸိူဝ်ႉ (nâ̰m tsô̰e)
• Slovak: sperma f, semeno n
• Slovene: séme (sl) n, spêrma (sl) f
• Spanish: semen (es) m
• Swahili: shahawa, manii (sw)
• Swedish: sädesvätska (sv), sperma (sv), sagge (sv) c
• Tagalog: punlay, tabod, tamod, semilya, danupunlay
• Tajik: тухмӣ (tuxmī), манӣ (manī)
• Tamil: விந்து (ta) (vintu)
• Telugu: వీర్యము (te) (vīryamu), రేతస్సు (te) (rētassu)
• Thai: อสุจิ (th) (à-sù-jì), น้ำกาม (th) (náam-gaam)
• Tibetan: ཐིག་ལེ (thig le)
• Tocharian B: śukkär
• Turkish: meni (tr), sperm (tr), döl (tr), atmık (tr)
• Ukrainian: спе́рма f (spérma), сі́м'я f (símʺja), еякуля́т m (ejakulját), насі́ння n (nasínnja)
• Urdu: ویریہ‎ m (vīrya), منی‎
• Uzbek: sperma (uz)
• Vietnamese: tinh dịch (vi) (精液)
• Yiddish: זוימען‎ (zoymen)

semen (fluid) — see sperm

Anagrams

• menes, mense, mesen, mesne, neems

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Asturian

Verb

semen

1. third-person plural present indicative of semar
2. third-person plural present subjunctive of semar

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɛmɛn]

Noun

semen

1. genitive plural of semeno

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Indonesian

Etymology 1

• From Malay semen, from Dutch cement (“cement”), from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum (“quarry stone; stone chips for making mortar”), from caedō (“I cut, hew”). Cognate with Afrikaans sement (“cement”).
• The sense “cementum” is a semantic loan from English cement.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səˈmɛn/
• Hyphenation: sê‧mèn

Noun

sêmèn (first-person possessive semenku, second-person possessive semenmu, third-person possessive semennya)

1. cement (powdered substance)
2. cement, the layer of bone investing the root and neck of a tooth; cementum.

Alternative forms

• simen (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore)

Derived terms

• bersemen
• menyemen
• penyemenan
• semenan
• tersemen

 

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Latin sēmen (“semen, seed”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“to sow; plant”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛmɛn/
• Hyphenation: sè‧mèn

Noun

semen (first-person possessive semenku, second-person possessive semenmu, third-person possessive semennya)

1. (medicine) semen, the fluid, produced in male reproductive organs of an animal, that contains the reproductive cells.

   Synonym: air mani

Further reading

• “semen” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *séh₁mn̥.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈseː.men/, [ˈs̠eːmɛn]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈse.men/, [ˈsɛːmɛn]

Noun

sēmen n (genitive sēminis); third declension

1. seed (of plants)

   Semen manu spargere. ― To scatter seed by hand.

2. semen
3. graft
4. offspring
5. cause
6. (poetic) seed (of the elements of other bodies (of fire, water, stones, etc.))
   • c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 6:

     et ignis sēmina convolvunt ē nūbibus.

     and the seeds of fire roll from the clouds.

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sēmen	sēmina
Genitive	sēminis	sēminum
Dative	sēminī	sēminibus
Accusative	sēmen	sēmina
Ablative	sēmine	sēminibus
Vocative	sēmen	sēmina

Derived terms

• sēmentifer
• sēmentis
• sēminālia
• sēminālis
• sēminārium
• sēminārius
• sēminātiō
• sēminātor
• sēminium
• sēminiverbius
• sēminō
• sēminōsus

 

Descendants

• English: semen
• Irish: seamhan
• Galician: seme
• Italian: seme
• Romanian: sămânță

• Portuguese: sêmen, sémen
• Romansch: sem
• Spanish: semen
• Venetian: sema

References

• semen in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• semen in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• semen in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the elements and first beginnings: elementa et tamquam semina rerum
    
  • to sow: serere; semen spargere
    

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Mauritian Creole

Etymology

From French chemin

Noun

semen

1. road, street

References

• Baker, Philip & Hookoomsing, Vinesh Y. 1987. Dictionnaire de créole mauricien. Morisyen – English – Français

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Middle English

Verb

semen

1. to seem
   • 14^th Century, Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, The Knight's Tale

     The brighte swerdes wenten to and fro
     So hidously þat with þe leste strook
     That it semeþ þat it wolde felle an ook

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Seychellois Creole

Etymology

From French chemin

Noun

semen

1. road, street

References

• Danielle D’Offay et Guy Lionnet, Diksyonner Kreol - Franse / Dictionnaire Créole Seychellois - Français

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sēmen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsemen/, [ˈse.mẽn]

Noun

semen m (uncountable)

1. semen, sperm

   Mi amigo me preguntó si era saludable tragarse su propio semen.

   My friend asked me if it was healthy to swallow his own semen.

Related terms

• semilla
• inseminar
• seminal
• seminoma

Further reading

• “semen” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

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Veps

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *seemen, from a Baltic language, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₁mn̥.

Noun

semen

1. seed

Inflection

Inflection of semen
nominative sing.	semen
genitive sing.	semnen
partitive sing.	sement
partitive plur.	semnid
	singular	plural
nominative	semen	semned
accusative	semnen	semned
genitive	semnen	semniden
partitive	sement	semnid
essive-instructive	semnen	semnin
translative	semneks	semnikš
inessive	semnes	semniš
elative	semnespäi	semnišpäi
illative	?	semnihe
adessive	semnel	semnil
ablative	semnelpäi	semnilpäi
allative	semnele	semnile
abessive	semneta	semnita
comitative	semnenke	semnidenke
prolative	sementme	semnidme
approximative I	semnenno	semnidenno
approximative II	semnennoks	semnidennoks
egressive	semnennopäi	semnidennopäi
terminative I	?	semnihesai
terminative II	semnelesai	semnilesai
terminative III	semnessai	—
additive I	?	semnihepäi
additive II	semnelepäi	semnilepäi

Derived terms

• semeta
• semenjaugaine
• semenvil'l'

References

• Zajceva, N. G.; Mullonen, M. I. (2007) , “семя”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary], Petrozavodsk: Periodika