Definitions and meaning of stem
stem
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: stĕm, IPA(key): /stɛm/
-
- Rhymes: -ɛm
Etymology 1
From Middle English stem, stemme, stempne, stevin, from Old English stemn, from Proto-West Germanic *stamni, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, stay”).
Noun
stem (plural stems)
- The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
- A branch of a family.
- (taxonomy) A branch, or group of branches, located outside a family or other cladistic group, but which is more closely related to that group than to any other taxon of the same rank.
- An advanced or leading position; the lookout.
- (botany) The above-ground stalk (technically axis) of a vascular plant, and certain anatomically similar, below-ground organs such as rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, and corms.
- A slender supporting member of an individual part of a plant such as a flower or a leaf; also, by analogy, the shaft of a feather.
- A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.
- (linguistics) The main part of an uninflected word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of the word. A stem often has a more fundamental root. Systematic conjugations and declensions derive from their stems.
- (slang) A person's leg.
- (slang) The penis.
- (typography) A vertical stroke of a letter.
- (music) A vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music.
- Synonyms: tail, (obsolete) virgula
- (music) A premixed portion of a track for use in audio mastering and remixing.
- (nautical, precisely) The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.
- (nautical, loosely) The front part of a vessel.
- Synonyms: bow, stem, fore, forestem, prow, beak, prore
- Antonyms: stern, aft, poop
- from stem to stern
- (cycling) A component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork.
- (anatomy) A part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications.
- (slang) A crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe.
- (chiefly British) A winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism.
Derived terms
Translations
References
“stem”, in Collins English Dictionary.
Verb
stem (third-person singular simple present stems, present participle stemming, simple past and past participle stemmed)
- To remove the stem from.
- To be caused or derived; to originate.
- To descend in a family line.
- To direct the stem (of a ship) against; to make headway against.
- (obsolete) To hit with the stem of a ship; to ram.
- To ram (clay, etc.) into a blasting hole.
Synonyms
- (to originate, stem from): to be due to, to arise from
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle English stemmen, a borrowing from Old Norse stemma (“to stop, stem, dam”) (whence Danish stemme/stæmme (“to stem, dam up”)), from Proto-Germanic *stammijaną. Cognate with German stemmen, Middle Dutch stemmen, stempen. Compare stammer.
Verb
stem (third-person singular simple present stems, present participle stemming, simple past and past participle stemmed)
- (transitive) To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood).
- to stem a tide
- (skiing) To move the feet apart and point the tips of the skis inward in order to slow down the speed or to facilitate a turn.
- In rock climbing, to use a stance with the feet spread apart, bracing them in opposite directions against the two walls of a chimney or dihedral.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:hinder
Translations
Etymology 3
Noun
stem (plural stems)
- Alternative form of steem.
Etymology 4
Acronym of science, technology, engineering, (and) mathematics.
Noun
stem (plural stems)
- Alternative form of STEM.
Further reading
- “stem”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “stem”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “stem”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Etymology 5
Blend of stud + femme
Noun
stem (plural stems)
- Alternative spelling of stemme (“lesbian who combines stud and femme traits”).
Anagrams
- EMTs, Mets, Smet, TEMs, mets
Afrikaans
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Dutch stem, from Middle Dutch stemme, from Old Dutch *stemma, from Proto-Germanic *stebnō, *stamnijō.
Noun
stem (plural stemme)
- vote
- voice
Etymology 2
From Dutch stemmen.
Verb
stem (present stem, present participle stemmende, past participle gestem)
- to vote
Czech
Pronunciation
Noun
stem n
- instrumental singular of sto
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch stemme, from Old Dutch *stemma, from Proto-West Germanic *stebnu, from Proto-Germanic *stebnō, *stamnijō. Under influence of Latin vox (“voice, word”), it acquired the now obsolete sense of “word”.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /stɛm/
-
- Hyphenation: stem
- Rhymes: -ɛm
Noun
stem f (plural stemmen, diminutive stemmetje n)
- voice, sound made by the mouth using airflow
- the ability to speak
- Zij is haar stem kwijt. ― She’s lost her voice.
- vote
- (obsolete) word
- (phonetics) voice, property formed by vibration of the vocal cords
Derived terms
Descendants
- Afrikaans: stem
- Negerhollands: stem
- → Aukan: sitemu
- → Caribbean Javanese: setèm, nyetèm, nyetèmi
- → Indonesian: sêtèm
- → Indonesian: suara (semantic loan)
- → Papiamentu: stèm
- → Sranan Tongo: sten, stèm
Verb
stem
- inflection of stemmen:
- first-person singular present indicative
- (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
- imperative
Anagrams
Indonesian
Etymology
From English stem, from Middle English stem, stemme, stempne, stevin, from Old English stemn, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, stay”).
Pronunciation
-
- (Standard Indonesian) IPA(key): /ˈstɛm/ [ˈst̪ɛm]
- Rhymes: -ɛm
- Syllabification: stem
- Homophone: STEM
Noun
stem (plural stem-stem)
- stem:
- (nautical) the vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.
- (linguistics) the main part of an uninflected word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of the word. A stem often has a more fundamental root. Systematic conjugations and declensions derive from their stems
- (music) a vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music
Further reading
- “stem” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈstẽː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈst̪ɛm]
Verb
stem
- first-person singular present active subjunctive of stō
Middle English
Noun
stem
- alternative form of stemme
Norwegian Bokmål
Verb
stem
- imperative of stemme
Norwegian Nynorsk
Verb
stem
- imperative of stemme
Tok Pisin
Etymology
From English stamp.
Noun
stem
- stamp
Source: wiktionary.org