sperm

English

Etymology

From Middle English sperme, from Latin sperma, from Ancient Greek σπέρμα (spérma, “seed, semen”). Compare also Old French esperme, sparme.

Pronunciation

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• (US) IPA^(key): /spɜːɹm/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /spɜːm/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)m
• Hyphenation: sperm

Noun

sperm (countable and uncountable, plural sperm or sperms)

1. (countable) The reproductive cell or gamete of the male; a spermatozoon.
   • 2012, Sarah Whitehouse, The Guardian, 13 Apr 2012:

     Seeing the two little moving cells – the result of her egg and Luke's sperm – was incredible, and two very long weeks later the clinic confirmed I was pregnant.

2. (uncountable, slang) Semen; the generative substance of male animals.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     Other Nations there are, that never have use of fire; Others, whose sperme is of a blacke colour.

3. (chemistry) Sperm oil; whale oil from a sperm whale; spermaceti.

Synonyms

• (generative substance): cum (vulgar slang), semen
• (reproductive cell): spermatozoon, sperm cell
• (of fish): milt
• (figurative): seed

Hypernyms

• (reproductive cell): gamete

Derived terms

Derived terms

• angiosperm
• asthenospermic
• endosperm
• gymnosperm
• gymnospermous
• monospermy
• monospermous
• perisperm
• polyspermy
• polyspermic
• polyspermous
• spermary
• spermatheca
• spermatic
• spermatid
• spermatocyte
• spermatogenesis
• spermatogenetic
• spermatogenous
• spermatogonium
• spermatoid
• spermatophyte, spermophyte
• spermatorrhea, spermatorrhoea
• spermatozoal
• spermatozoon

• sperm cell
• sperm count
• spermicidal
• spermicide
• spermogonium, spermagonium
• spermophile
• spermous
• sperm whale
• zoosperm

Translations

cell

• Arabic: نُطْفَة‎ f (nuṭfa), حَيَوَان مَنَوِيّ‎ (ar) m (ḥayawān manawiyy)

  Egyptian Arabic: حيوان منوي‎ m (ḥayawan manawi)

• Armenian: սպերմատոզոիդ (hy) (spermatozoid), սերմնաբջիջ (hy) (sermnabǰiǰ)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精子 (zh) (jīngzǐ)

• Czech: spermie (cs) f
• Danish: sæd (da) c
• Dutch: spermacel (nl)
• Estonian: seemnerakk
• Finnish: siittiö (fi)
• French: spermatozoïde (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Spermium (de) n, Samenzelle (de) f
• Greek: σπερματοζωάριο (el) n (spermatozoário) (spermatozoário)
• Hebrew: זרעון‎ m (zir'on)
• Hindi: शुक्राणु m (śukrāṇu)

• Hungarian: hímivarsejt, ondósejt (hu), spermium
• Icelandic: sæðisfruma f
• Italian: spermatozoo (it) m
• Japanese: 精子 (ja) (せいし, seishi)
• Kazakh: шауһат (şawhat)
• Korean: 정자 (ko) (jeongja) (精子)
• Lao: ພັນ (phan)
• Malay: sperma, benih, benih jantan
• Manx: sheel m
• Persian: اسپرماتوزئید‎ (espermâtozo'id)
• Polish: plemnik (pl) m
• Portuguese: espermatozoide (pt) m
• Romanian: spermatozoid (ro) m
• Russian: сперматозо́ид (ru) m (spermatozóid)
• Slovak: spermia
• Spanish: espermatozoide (es) m
• Tagalog: punlay
• Thai: สเปิร์ม (sà-bpəəm), ตัวอสุจิ, อสุจิ (th) (à-sù-jì)
• Turkmen: döl (tk)
• Vietnamese: tinh trùng (vi) (精蟲), (slang) tinh binh (vi) (精兵)
• Welsh: sberm (cy) m

semen (fluid)

• Albanian: spermë (sq) f
• Arabic: نُطْفَة‎ f (nuṭfa), مَنْي‎ m (many)
• Armenian: սերմ (hy) (serm), սերմնահեղուկ (hy) (sermnahełuk), սպերմա (hy) (sperma)
• Azerbaijani: sperma, toxum (az), məni
• Bashkir: мәней (mäney), аталыҡ орлоғо (atalïq orloğo)
• Belarusian: спе́рма f (spjérma)
• Bengali: শুক্রাণু (śukranu), বীর্য (bn) (birjô)
• Bulgarian: спе́рма f (spérma)
• Burmese: သုက်ပိုး (sukpui:), သုက်ကောင် (sukkaung)
• Catalan: esperma (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 精液 (zing¹ jik⁶)

  Mandarin: 精液 (zh) (jīngyè)

  Min Nan: 精液 (cheng-e̍k / cheng-ia̍k)

• Czech: semeno (cs) n, sperma (cs) n
• Danish: sperm
• Dutch: sperma (nl) n
• Estonian: sperma (et)
• Finnish: siemenneste (fi), sperma (fi)
• French: sperme (fr) m, semence (fr) f
• Georgian: სპერმა (sṗerma), თესლი (ka) (tesli)
• German: Sperma (de) n
• Greek: σπέρμα (el) n (spérma)
• Greenlandic: anisooq, peersaq
• Gujarati: વીર્ય (vīrya)
• Hebrew: זֶרַע‎ (he) m (zéra‛)
• Hindi: शुक्राणु m (śukrāṇu), शुक्र (hi) m (śukra), वीर्य (hi) m (vīrya)
• Hungarian: sperma (hu), ondó (hu)
• Icelandic: sæði n
• Indonesian: sperma (id)
• Irish: speirm
• Italian: sperma (it) m
• Japanese: 精液 (ja) (せいえき, seieki)
• Kazakh: шәует (şäwet), сперма (sperma)
• Khmer: ទឹកកាម (km) (tɨk kaam), ទឹករាគ (tɨk riək), ទឹកក្អេក (tɨk kʼeik), កាវស (kaaw sɑɑ) (colloquial)
• Korean: 정액 (ko) (jeong'aek) (精液 (ko))
• Kyrgyz: сперма (ky) (sperma), эрендик (ky) (erendik)

• Lao: ນ້ຳກາມ (nam kām), ນ້ຳແບ້ນ (nam bǣn), ອະສຸຈິ (ʼa su chi)
• Latin: sperma
• Latvian: sēkla (lv) f, sperma f
• Lithuanian: sperma f, sėkla (lt) f
• Macedonian: сперма f (sperma)
• Malay: sperma
• Maltese: isperma f
• Manx: sheel m
• Mongolian: дусал (mn) (dusal), салай (mn) (salai)
• Norwegian: sperm m, sperma m, sæd m
• Old High German: hīsamo
• Pashto: مني‎ m (maní)
• Persian: نطفه‎ (fa) (notfa), منی‎ (fa) (moni) (vulgar)
• Polish: sperma (pl) f, nasienie (pl) n
• Portuguese: esperma (pt) m
• Romanian: spermă (ro) f, smecleu n, smârcău n, smahoz n
• Russian: спе́рма (ru) f (spérma), молофья́ (ru) f (molofʹjá) (vulgar)
• Sanskrit: शुक्र (sa) n (śukra), रेतस् (sa) n (retas)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сперма f

  Roman: sperma (sh) f

• Shan: ၼမ်ႉၸိူဝ်ႉ (nâ̰m tsô̰e)
• Slovak: sperma f
• Slovene: sperma (sl) f
• Spanish: esperma (es) m or f
• Swahili: mbegu za kiume
• Swedish: sperma (sv), sädesvätska (sv)
• Tagalog: tamod
• Tajik: нутфа (tg) (nutfa), манӣ (manī)
• Tamil: விந்து (ta) (vintu)
• Thai: สเปิร์ม (sà-bpəəm), อสุจิ (th) (à-sù-jì)
• Turkish: sperm (tr)
• Turkmen: sperma, döl (tk)
• Ukrainian: спе́рма f (spérma)
• Urdu: منی‎ m (manī), نطفہ‎ (nutfa)
• Uyghur: سپېرما‎ (spërma), مەنى‎ (meni)
• Uzbek: sperma (uz), maniy (uz)
• Vietnamese: tinh dịch (vi) (精液)

sperm oil, spermaceti

• Finnish: valaanöljy, spermaseettiöljy (oil); valaanrasve, valaanvaha, spermaseetti (spermaceti)

• Italian: spermaceti (it) 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

• Macedonian: ^{(please verify)} сперма f (sperma)

• Maltese: ^{(please verify)} liba f
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} శుక్లము (te) (śuklamu)

Verb

sperm (third-person singular simple present sperms, present participle sperming, simple past and past participle spermed)

1. (intransitive, slang, vulgar) To ejaculate.
2. (transitive, slang, vulgar) To ejaculate on or into.

Anagrams

• PMSer, perms, prems

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σπέρμα (spérma) (sense 1).

Noun

sperm m (definite singular spermen, uncountable)

1. sperm
2. short for spermasett (spermaceti); see spermhval.

Synonyms

• sperma
• sæd

Related terms

• sperme

Verb

sperm

1. imperative of sperme

References

• “sperm” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

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Turkish

Noun

sperm

1. semen (male reproductory fluid)