FromMiddle Englishsemen, fromLatinsēmen(“seed”), fromProto-Indo-European*seh₁-(“to sow; plant”).

• IPA^(key):/ˈsiːmən/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-iːmən
• Homophone:seaman

semen (usuallyuncountable,pluralsemens)

2. A sticky, milky fluid produced in malereproductiveorgans that contains the reproductive cells.
   • 1962 [1959],William S. Burroughs,Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press,page80:

     Sharp protein odor ofsemen fills the air.

   • 1981,William Irwin Thompson,The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page162:

     In the Sumerian language the word for water also meanssemen, and since Enki is the god of water, he is therefore the god ofsemen. In this ode to the Great Father, the land of the Sumerians is literally awash withsemen.

• (male reproductory fluid):ejaculate,sperm;(slang):jissom,jism,jizz,balljuice,spunk,cum,seed,spurt,spooge,splooge,load,skeet,squirt,nut
• See alsoThesaurus:semen

• semen contra

• menes,mense,mesen,mesne,neems

semen

1. third-personpluralpresentindicative ofsemar
2. third-personpluralpresentsubjunctive ofsemar

Learned borrowing fromLatinsēmen.

• IPA^(key):(Central,Balearic)[ˈsɛ.mən]
• IPA^(key):(Valencia)[ˈse.men]

semen m (pluralsèmensorsémens)

1. semen,sperm

   Synonym:esperma

• “semen” inDiccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició,Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

• IPA^(key):[ˈsɛmɛn]

semen

1. genitiveplural ofsemeno

Learned borrowing fromLatinsēmen(“semen, seed”), fromProto-Indo-European*seh₁-(“to sow; plant”).

• IPA^(key):/ˈsɛmɛn/
• Rhymes:-mɛn,-ɛn,-n
• Hyphenation:sè‧mèn

sèmèn (pluralsemen-semen)

1. (medicine)semen, the fluid, produced in male reproductive organs of an animal, that contains the reproductive cells

   Synonyms:air mani,benih mani

• sémen(Brunei,Malaysia,Singapore)

Borrowed fromDutchcement(“cement”), fromOld Frenchciment, fromLatincaementum(“quarry stone; stone chips for making mortar”), fromcaedō(“I cut, hew”). Cognate withAfrikaanssement(“cement”). The sense“cementum” is asemantic loan fromEnglishcement.

• IPA^(key):/səˈmɛn/
• Rhymes:-mɛn,-ɛn,-n
• Hyphenation:sê‧mèn

sêmèn (pluralsemen-semen)

1. cement
   1. (construction material) a powdered substance produced by firing (calcining) calcium carbonate (limestone) and clay that develops strong cohesive properties when mixed with water. The main ingredient of concrete.
   2. (figurative) any material with strong adhesive and cohesive properties such as binding agents, glues, grout.
   3. (anatomy,dentistry)cementum
2. (anatomy,dentistry)cementum: the layer of bone investing the root and neck of a tooth.

• (cement):simen(Brunei,Malaysia,Singapore)
• (cementum):simentum(Brunei,Malaysia,Singapore)

Unknown(Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key):/səˈmɛn/
• Rhymes:-mɛn,-ɛn,-n
• Hyphenation:sê‧mèn

sêmèn (pluralsemen-semen)

1. (fashion)batik pattern depicting a garuda with two wings, a tail, and a mountain, generally dark blue with a gold pattern

• “semen” inKamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta:Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

FromProto-Italic*sēmən, fromProto-Indo-European*séh₁mn̥(“seed”).

• (Classical Latin)IPA^(key):/ˈseː.men/,[ˈs̠eːmɛn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical)IPA^(key):/ˈse.men/,[ˈsɛːmen]

sēmen n (genitivesēminis);third declension

1. seed (of plants)

   Sēmenmanūspargere. ―Toscatterseed byhand.

   • 8CE,Ovid,Fasti5.221–222:

     ‘prīma per immēnsās sparsī novasēmina gentēs!
     ūnīus tellūs ante colōris erat.’

     “First [it was] I [who] scattered newseeds throughout countless nations!
     Previously the earth was of [but] one color.”
     (The poetic voice is that ofFlora (mythology).)

2. semen
3. graft
4. offspring
5. cause
6. (poetic)seed (of the elements of other bodies (of fire, water, stones, etc.))
   • c. 99BCE – 55BCE,Lucretius,De rerum natura6:

     et ignissēmina convolvunt ē nūbibus.

     and theseeds of fire roll from the clouds.

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

• “semen”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879)A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “semen”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891)An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "semen", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894)Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London:Macmillan and Co.
  • the elements and first beginnings:elementa et tamquam semina rerum
    
  • to sow:serere; semen spargere
    

• semel

FromArabicسَمْن(samn).

• IPA^(key):/ˈsɛ.mɛn/
• Rhymes:-ɛmɛn

semen m

1. butter

   Synonym:butir

FromFrenchchemin.

semen

1. road,street

• Baker, Philip & Hookoomsing, Vinesh Y. 1987.Dictionnaire de créole mauricien. Morisyen – English – Français

Inherited fromOld Englishsēman, fromProto-West Germanic*sōmijan, fromProto-Germanic*sōmijaną.

• seme,semi

• IPA^(key):/ˈseːmən/

semen (third-person singular simple presentsemeth,present participlesemende,semynge,first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participlesemed)

1. (Early Middle English) Tosort out; toresolve,subdue, orconfirm.

• “sẹ̄men,v.(1).”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.

Borrowed fromOld Norsesœma, fromProto-Germanic*sōmijaną, thus a doublet of Etymology 1.

• cemyn,seeme,seemen,seme,semy,semyn

• IPA^(key):/ˈseːmən/

semen (third-person singular simple presentsemeth,present participlesemende,semynge,first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participlesemed)

1. Toseem(to be); tolook or beperceived as.
   • 14^th Century,Chaucer,The Canterbury Tales, The Knight's Tale

     The brighte swerdes wenten to and fro
     So hidously þat with þe leste strook
     That itsemeþ þat it wolde felle an ook

2. Toappear; to becomevisible ordiscernible.
3. Tobelieve orassume; to develop abelief:
   1. Todeem orconsider; to form ajudgement.
   2. Toconsider to beappropriate; to judge assuitable.
4. To beappropriate orright; tosuit orbefit.
5. (rare) Toexist; to beextant.

• bisemen
• seme
• semly

• English:seem
• Scots:seem

• “sẹ̄men,v.(2).”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.

Inherited fromOld Englishsīman,sēman, fromProto-West Germanic*saumijan; equivalent toseem(“load”) +‎-en(infinitival suffix).

• seme

• IPA^(key):/ˈseːmən/,/ˈsɛːmən/

semen (third-person singular simple presentsemeth,present participlesemende,semynge,first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participlesemed)

1. Toload up or with; toplaceupon.
2. (figuratively,rare) To beburdensome orgrievous.

• “sẹ̄men,v.(3).”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.

Back-formation fromsemăna.

semen m (pluralsemeni)

1. fellow human

FromFrenchchemin.

semen

1. road,street

• Danielle D’Offay et Guy Lionnet,Diksyonner Kreol - Franse / Dictionnaire Créole Seychellois - Français

Borrowed fromLatinsēmen.

• IPA^(key):/ˈsemen/[ˈse.mẽn]
• Rhymes:-emen
• Syllabification:se‧men

semen m (uncountable)

1. semen,sperm

   Mi amigo me preguntó si era saludable tragarse su propiosemen.

   My friend asked me if it was healthy to swallow his ownsemen.

   La última vez que estuve en un acto sexual yo era elsemen.

   The last time I was in a sex act I was thesemen.

• “semen”, inDiccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8,Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish:Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

FromProto-Finnic*seemen, from aBaltic language, fromProto-Indo-European*séh₁mn̥.

semen

1. seed

• semeta
• semenjaugaine
• semenvil'l'

• Zajceva, N. G., Mullonen, M. I. (2007) “семя”, inUz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎^[2], Petrozavodsk: Periodika