gum

Gum, the flesh around the teeth, is a native word; gum, a sticky substance, came through French and Latin from Greek.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡʌm/^[4]

gum¹ flesh around the teeth

Etymology

The gum of the mouth is inherited from Middle English gome, inherited from Old English gōma (“palate, inside of the mouth”),^[1][3][2] cognate with Old High German guomo (modern German Gaumen (“palate”)) and Old Norse gómr (“roof of the mouth”),^[1][2][3] and related to Lithuanian gomurys (“palate”).^[3] Barnhart traces it to a root meaning to yawn, also behind chaos, so that the first sense was the open jaw;^[1] Etymonline gives this root as a possibility.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The inside of the mouth or throat, the palate: about 825 in the OED.^[5] Middle English gome is from about 1150.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The specific sense, the flesh around the teeth, is first recorded before 1325 in Barnhart,^[1] 1398 in the OED.^[5] In slang, gum was impertinent talk or chatter from 1751.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 825 – the palate.^[5]
• c. 1150 – gome.^[1]
• before 1325 – the flesh around the teeth.^[1]
• 1751 – chatter (slang).^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The firm flesh that covers the jaws and surrounds the bases of the teeth, often in the plural.

Verb

1. To chew food with toothless gums.

Word family

• gumboil
• gumline

gum² sticky substance

Etymology

The sticky substance is inherited from Middle English gumme, borrowed from Old French gomme,^[1][3][2][6] from Late Latin gumma, from Latin gummi, also cummi,^[1][3][2] from Ancient Greek κόμμι (kómmi, “gum”),^[1][3][2] probably of Egyptian origin.^[1][2][6][7] The Latin word is also the source of German Gummi.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Before 1325, in Cursor Mundi;^[1] a sticky secretion from trees and shrubs about 1385 in the OED, about 1300 in Etymonline.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to treat with gum, is from about 1325,^[1] and gum arabic and gummy from before 1398.^[1] Dried gum was used to stiffen linen from 1456,^[5] and the gum tree was named for its resin in the 1670s.^[3] A sweet made of hardened gelatine is from 1827,^[3][7] and chewing gum, in American English, from 1842.^[1][3][5] The gumdrop is American, from 1860.^[1] To gum up, to spoil, as if machinery were clogged, is recorded by 1901,^[3] and the gumshoe, a detective, wore rubber-soled shoes, from the early 20th century.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1325 – gum.^[1]
• before 1398 – gum arabic.^[1]
• 1670s – gum tree.^[3]
• 1827 – a gum sweet.^[3]
• 1842 – chewing gum (US).^[1][3][5]
• 1901 – to gum up.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A sticky substance that oozes from certain plants and trees, hardening in air and dissolving in water.
2. An adhesive made from such substances; glue.
3. Chewing gum.

Verb

1. To cover, seal or fix with gum.
2. To become sticky or clogged.
3. gum up: to spoil or clog something.

Word family

• gummy
• gumdrop
• gumshoe
• gum arabic
• chewing gum

Related words

• gumma
• gummite
• gummose
• gummosis
• gummous
• chaos

Usage notes

Gum in mild oaths such as by gum is a 19th-century alteration of God.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press