Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm
Proto-Italic *kom
Old Latin com
Latin cumlbor.
English cum
Learned borrowing from Latin cum.
Meanings
Used in indicating a thing or person which has two or more roles, functions, or natures, or which has changed from one to another.
Coffee shops-cum-meeting-spots dotted across the city are teeming (Equator, Blue Bottle and Saint Frank). Caffeine-fuelled, lactose-intolerant, macadamia milk latte-drinking young folk are journalling, manifesting, coding, ChatGPT-ing and pitching their ideas. 2023 February 5, Kathryn Parsons, “Boom times are back in San Francisco’s tech mecca”, in The Sunday Times, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2026:
The banner shows a yellowed silhouette of a boy (possibly Calvin, of Calvin & Hobbes) urinating on an EU flag. Sites such as this show the full power of the Internet as a propaganda medium cum travel service cum organizing tool. Oh, and nightlife directory. 2001 Nov/Dec, David Sachs, “LET THEM EAT BITS”, in American Spectator, volume 34, number 8, page 78:
He is too good an actor to need that sort of tomfoolery: the effect will be far better if he is a credible mining camp elder-cum-publican. 1926-1950, George Bernard Shaw, Collected Letters: 1926-1950, University of California/Viking, published 1985, page 31:
[Sam] Altman, the techno-optimist bent on commercialization, lost out to [Ilya] Sutskever, the Brutus cum mad scientist fearful that super-smart AI poses an existential risk to humanity. 2023 November 22, Derek Thompson, “The OpenAI Mess Is About One Big Thing”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 22 Nov 2023:
Funnily enough, it wasn't that long ago that the year 2016 was derided for being overly romanticised, rooted in the “hope and change” ideals-cum-slogans used by the 2008 Obama presidential campaign before that all got blown away. 2026 January 24, Elizabeth Paton, “Remember those innocent days of 2016?”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20:
One driver-cum-fireman-cum-fitter looks after the three locomotives, [...]. 1944 May and June, “Notes and News: The Snailbeach District Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 183:
Translations (10)
ja 兼 (Translations) · cmn 暨 (Translations) · cmn 兼 (Translations) · fr soit (Translations) · vi kiêm (Translations) · ru совмещённый (Translations) · ru с (Translations) · it trattino (Translations) · pl i (Translations) · ko 겸 (Translations)
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gʷem-
Proto-Indo-European *gʷémt
Proto-Germanic *kwemaną
Proto-West Germanic *kweman
Old English cuman
Middle English comen
English come
English cum
Variant of come, attested (in the basic sense "come, move from further to nearer, arrive") since Old English. The sexual sense of come is attested since the 1650s. In this sense and spelling, attested from 1970s.
Meanings
(colloquial, uncountable, vulgar) Semen.
Licking a friend's cum off another friend's belly. 1989 December 24, Read Weaver, “Queers For Years”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 24, page 9:
This week I learned that cum tastes like nickels. 2014, Norm Macdonald Live, season 2, episode 3, spoken by Norm Macdonald:
Jim descends into the murky tunnel; the faint odor of cum permeates the air. 1977, John Rechy, The Sexual Outlaw, New York: Dell, →ISBN, page 73:
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gʷem-
Proto-Indo-European *gʷémt
Proto-Germanic *kwemaną
Proto-West Germanic *kweman
Old English cuman
Middle English comen
English come
English cum
Variant of come, attested (in the basic sense "come, move from further to nearer, arrive") since Old English. The sexual sense of come is attested since the 1650s. In this sense and spelling, attested from 1970s.
Meanings
(colloquial, slang, vulgar) To have an orgasm, to feel the sensation of an orgasm.
Despite claims to the contrary, a woman can cum from anal sex alone.
(colloquial, slang, vulgar) To ejaculate.
I got no sensation down there, so I don't know when I'm hard, I don't know when I cum. My wife's gotta tell me. 1997 July 14, “Visits, Conjugal, and Otherwise”, in Oz, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau):
Some men cum as much as 10 milliliters.
Sucking on pork ribs and summoning pornography / So that we can cum when we fuck / Our partners don’t know us / Our families are strangers 2019, “All Humans Too Late”, in The Book of Traps and Lessons, performed by Kae Tempest:
(alt-of, colloquial, pronunciation-spelling, vulgar) Eye dialect spelling of come (“move from further to nearer; arrive”).
“Where'd he cum from?” the bowman inquired. “That's what we'd like ter know, yer see; where he cum from, and how he happen'd to cum,” responded the steersman. “But he's a jolly good feller, strong as a lion, […]” 1882, William Makepeace Thayer, From Log-Cabin to White House, page 162:
hu elsül (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · es eyacular (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · sh svršiti (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · cs stříkat (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · el χύνω (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ro slobozi (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · pl dochodzić (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · pl dojść (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · cs udělat se (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · id keluar (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · no sæde (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · tr gelmek (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · az qurtarmaq (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · de kommen (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · et tulema (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · es correrse (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ka მითესლება (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · et jobistama (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · mg mitsitsitra (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · et orgasmi saama (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · fi tulla (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ms pancut (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · th น้ำแตก (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · es venirse (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · fr gicler (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · fi laueta (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · he גָּמַר (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ar قَذْف الْمَنْي (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · th แตก (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · no ejakulere (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · fo koma (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · fr venir (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · sk striekať (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ru ко́нчить (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ru эякули́ровать (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ko 싸다 (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · la eiaculare (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · fi saada (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · nl komen (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · is fá það (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · de abspritzen (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · da komme (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · az boşalmaq (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · nl klaarkomen (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · et lahti saama (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ca ejacular (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · tr attırmak (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · pt esporrar (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · scn vèniri (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · hu elélvez (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · fr se vider les couilles (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · cmn 射 (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · fr juter (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · tr boşalmak (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · it venire (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · pt gozar (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ja イく (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ca escórrer-se (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · scn sbrijinziari (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ja 射精する (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · et pauku lahti saama (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · scn sburrari (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · cmn 出水 (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · eo ĉuri (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · pt ejacular (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · mk свршува (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · fr balancer la purée (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · es irse (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · cmn 射精 (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · fr jouir (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · hi झड़ना (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · da ejakulere (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ru конча́ть (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · mg mitsitra (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · sv komma (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · bn মাল ফেলা (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · grc χέω (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · it sborrare (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · id crot (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · mk ејакули́ра (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · vi xuất tinh (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · ro își da drumul (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · pt vir-se (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · eo orgasmi (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · hu elmegy (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · it eiaculare (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate) · hy թափել (slang: have an orgasm; ejaculate)
cum en · ADJ · etymology 3
Meanings
(abbreviation, alt-of, colloquial, not-comparable, vulgar) Abbreviation of cumulative.