semen

See also: 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
• 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) (biryô)
• Bikol Central: kasit
• Bulgarian: спе́рма f (spérma), семенна течност f (semenna tečnost)
• Burmese: သုက် (my) (suk)
• 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)
• 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: თესლი (ka) (tesli), სპერმა (sṗerma)
• German: Samen (de) m
• Greek: σπέρμα (el) n (spérma)
• 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
• Irish: seamhan m, síol m
• Italian: seme (it) m, sperma (it) m
• Japanese: 精液 (ja) (せいえき, seieki), ザーメン (zāmen)
• Khmer: ទឹកកាម (km) (tɨk kaam)

• Korean: 정액 (ko) (jeong-aek) (精液 (ko)), (slang) 좆물 (jonmul),
• Kurdish: تۆو‎‎ (ku), تۆماو‎‎, تۆم‎‎ (ku), sperma‎‎ (ku)
• Kyrgyz: сперма (ky) (sperma)
• Lao: ອະສຸຈິ (’a 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
• Malayalam: ശുക്ലം (ml) (śuklaṃ)
• Maltese: liba f
• 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
• Romanian: spermă (ro) f
• Russian: се́мя (ru) n (sémja), спе́рма (ru) f (spérma), эякуля́т (ru) m (ejakulját), молофья́ (ru) f (molofʹjá) (vulgar)
• Sanskrit: रेतस् (sa) n (retas)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сперма f

  Roman: sperma (sh) f

• 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)
• 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)
• Yiddish: זוימען‎‎ (zoymen)

semen (fluid) — see sperm

Anagrams

• 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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Indonesian

Noun

semen

1. cement (a powdered substance)
2. The fluid, produced in male reproductive organs of an animal, that contains the reproductive cells.

This Indonesian entry was created from the translations listed at cement. It may be less reliable than other entries, and may be missing parts of speech or additional senses. Please also see semen in the Indonesian Wiktionary. This notice will be removed when the entry is checked. (more information) February 2010

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *séh₁mn̥.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈseː.men/, [ˈseː.mẽ]

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 semina convolvunt e nubibus.

     and the seeds of fire roll from the clouds.

Inflection

Third declension neuter.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	sēmen	sēmina
genitive	sēminis	sēminum
dative	sēminī	sēminibus
accusative	sēmen	sēmina
ablative	sēmine	sēminibus
vocative	sēmen	sēmina

Derived terms

Terms derived from semen

• sēmentifer
• sēmentis
• sēminālia
• sēminālis

• sēminārium
• sēminārius
• sēminātiō
• sēminātor

• sēminium
• sēminiverbius
• sēminō
• sēminōsus

Descendants

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

• Romansh: 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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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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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin sēmen.

Noun

semen m (uncountable)

1. semen, sperm

Related terms

• semilla
• inseminar

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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