um English · revision 7711

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=onomatopoeia|attested=1672}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʌm/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is imitative,^(MWU 2024) a natural utterance first recorded in English in the early 17th century in NODE.^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A sound of hesitation or inarticulate utterance: 1672 in the OED and MWU, the 1670s in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Hesitation or doubt in replying to another is from 1777,^(OED 1989) and assent from 1913, when it is also used as a verb, to hesitate in speech.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1672 – hesitation.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1777 – doubt in replying.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1913 – assent; the verb.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Interjection===

+ # A sound used to show [[doubt]] or to fill a pause when [[hesitate|alt=hesitating]] in speech.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[er]]

+ * [[hem]]

+ * [[hum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A different um, common in 17th-century writing, is a form of 'em and of hem, them,^(OED 1989) and dialect um, him or them, is recorded across England by the EDD.^(OED 1989)^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}