Attested since 1808. In typography, the em is named after theem quadrat (later calledem quad), fromm quadrat, a metal type used in letterpress typesetting, which is as wide as the point size of the font.
It said, in a whispering, buzzing voice, "Gee-you-ess-ess-ay-dash-em-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-em-eye-en-gee-oh-dash-pee-eye-pee-dash-pee-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-pee-eye-en-gee-oh."
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Coined by Christine M. Elverson by removing the "th" fromthem, perhaps influenced by the pre-existingem/'em, now often perceived asapheretic forms ofthem (though originally unrelated).
1986 April 1, Michael Spivak,The Joy of TeX: A Gourmet Guide to Typesetting with the AMS-TeX macro package[1], Providence: American Mathematical Society,→ISBN,→LCCN,LCCZ253.4.T47 S673 1986, page68:
If the author uses such notation, it should be up toEm to indicateEir intentions clearly, but there’s no harm checking first.
1997, Steven Shaviro,Doom Patrols : A Theoretical Fiction About Postmodernism, London: Serpent's Tail,→ISBN,→LCCN, page138:
I may become quite intimate with someone, spend hours withem every night, and yet not have the slightest idea whateir voice sounds like, or what eirRL body looks, feels, and smells like.
2000, Jane Love, “Ethics, Plugged and Unplugged: The Pegagogy of Disorderly Conduct”, in James A. Inman, Donna N. Sewell, editors,Taking flight with OWLs: Examining Electronic Writing Center Work[2], Taylor & Francis,→ISBN,LCCPE1414.T24 1999, page193:
E invitesem to consider howey represent emselves[sic], and in so doing,e focuseseir attention on the ethics that make human relations possible.
2011 March 15, RJ Edwards, “89: New Friend”, inRiot Nrrd[3], retrieved2012-10-06:
And ultimately: I think my readers are mature enough that knowingeir assigned gender is not going to give them an “excuse” to misgenderem.
“You idiot girl! Are you childsick?” She grabbed Asu’s wrist; Asu made no effort to twist away. “Sand and soil, tell me you’re not pregnant. Is it that—what’s eir name? Aeran? Have you lain withem? Tell me!”
1 Used only as an object of a preposition or a verb. 2 The collective pronouns specify that the action is performed by all subjects together, rather than on their own. Some speakers may not distinguish various plurality categories, using only one or two plural pronouns.
Multiple Latin names for the letterM,m have been suggested. The most common isem or asyllabicm, although there is some evidence which also supports, as names for the letter,mē,əm,mə, and even (in the fourth- or fifth-century first Antinoë papyrus, which gives Greek transliterations of the Latin names of the Roman alphabet’s letters)ιμμε(imme).
"em", inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
"em", inCharlton T. Lewis (1891)An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
em inGaffiot, Félix (1934)Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894)Latin Phrase-Book[4], London:Macmillan and Co.
to sully one's fair fame:vitae splendori(em) maculas(is) aspergere
Arthur E. Gordon,The Letter Names of the Latin Alphabet (University of California Press, 1973; volume 9 ofUniversity of California Publications: Classical Studies), especially pages 30–31, 42–44, and 63
Hannah Rosén (1999).Latine loqui: trends and directions in the crystallization of classical Latin. München: Fink. p. 47
María de los Angeles Colós, José Guzman, and John Peabody Harrington (1930s)Chochenyo Field Notes (Survey of California and Other Indian Langauges)[5], Unpublished
(slang)indicates that the object deserves a given punishment
Cadeianele!
He should be in jail!
(literally, “jail on him!”)
(formal,literary)used in a gerundial or participial clause to emphasize its conditional or temporal meaning
Em se tratando de você, já nada me surpreende.
When it comes to you, nothing surprises me anymore.
2012 November 23, Paulinho, “Atacante Hugo, do Sport, pode ser denunciado por sonegação de impostos na Receita Federal [Sport striker Hugo might be indicted for tax evasion by Brazil's revenue service]”, inBlog do Paulinho [Paulie's Blog]:
Grande esperança do Sport Recife para evitar o rebaixamento no Brasileirão nas próximas rodadas, o atacante Hugo deve ser denunciado, nos próximos dias, por um dos agentes que realizou sua transação aos Emirados Árabes, pelo crime de Sonegação Fiscal. Em comprovada a dívida, terá que arcar com todos os impostos não pegos no período da transação, além de pesada multa.
Sport Recife's great hope of avoiding relegation in the Brasileirão [Brazil's main soccer league] in the next few rounds, striker Hugo is expected to be indicted, in the next few days, by one of the agents who carried out his deal with the UAE, for the crime of tax evasion. If the debt is proven, he'll have to pay all the taxes not paid during the transaction, as well as a hefty fine.
Thethird personsingularpronoun refers to a person or thing other than the speaker or the person being spoken to. Pronouns in Tok Pisin are not inflected for different cases.
1989,Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea,Jenesis1:15:
God i mekim kamap tupela bikpela lait. Bikpelaem san bilong givim lait long de, na liklikem mun bilong givim lait long nait. Na God i mekim kamap ol sta tu.
According toPhan Kế Bính'sViệt Nam phong tục (1915), apparently the practice of calling each otheranh-em for those in relationship originated from the South Central province ofQuảng Nam:
1915,Phan Kế Bính,Việt Nam phong tục [Vietnamese customs]:
Spouses from wealthy families tend to call each othercậu andmợ; those employed by the government preferthầy andcô; while in an average household, they call each otheranh andchị. Couples with children call each otherthầy em [father of the little one] andđẻ em [mother of the little one], while those from low-born families usebố cu andmẹ đĩ; there are also those who saybố nó andmẹ nó and those who both call each othernhà ta. In Quảng Nam, a housewife would call her husbandanh and a husband would call his wifeem. In Nghệ Tĩnh, "husband and wife" is calledgấy nhông.
acousin who is descended from an ancestor who is/was a younger sibling to oneself's or one's spouse's (such as a child of a younger sibling of one of one's parents or a grandchild of a younger sibling of one of one's grandparents)
- Sao anh lại gọi chú ấy là thầy ? Chú ấy làem của em. Chú ấy cũng làem của anh. - Anh thấy mình nên tôn trọng cái có trước. Thầy ấy là thầy của anh từ trước khi anh lấy em.
- Why did you call him "teacher"? He's my "younger sibling", meaning he's yours, too. - I felt like I should respect what comes first. He was my teacher long before we're married.
a person younger than oneself but of the samegeneration
Tôi yêuem âm thầm, không hi vọng, / Lúc rụt rè, khi hậm hực lòng ghen, / Tôi yêuem, yêu chân thành, đằm thắm, / Cầuem được người tình như tôi đã yêuem.
I lovedyou, without words, without hope, / Sometimes I felt shy, sometimes I felt tortured with jealousy, / I lovedyou, truly and deeply, / I prayyou will find someone who lovesyou as much as I ever did.
Textbooks tend to assume grade schoolers and middle schoolers to be young enough to be calledem(literally“little sibling”), but high schoolers to be old enough to be calledanh(“big brother”) andchị(“big sister”).
Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page51
