come

English Online Dictionary. What means come‎? What does come mean?

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English comen, cumen, from Old English cuman, from Proto-West Germanic *kweman, from Proto-Germanic *kwemaną (“to come”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷémt (“to step”), from *gʷem- (“to step”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kʌm/, [kʰɐm], enPR: kŭm
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kʌm/, [kʰʌm], enPR: kŭm
• IPA^(key): [kəm], [km̩], [km] (rapid speech, as in c'mon)
• (Dublin, Cork, Northern England) IPA^(key): /kʊm/
• Homophone: cum
• Rhymes: -ʌm

Verb

come (third-person singular simple present comes, present participle coming, simple past came or (now nonstandard) come, past participle come or (rare) comen)

1. (intransitive) To move nearer to the point of perspective.
   1. To move toward the speaker.

   2. To move toward the listener.

   3. To move toward the object that is the focus of the sentence.

   4. (in subordinate clauses and gerunds) To move toward the agent or subject of the main clause.

   5. To move toward an unstated agent.

2. (intransitive) To arrive.
3. (intransitive) To appear; to manifest itself; to cause a reaction by manifesting.

4. (with an infinitive) To begin (to have an opinion or feeling).
5. (with an infinitive) To do something by chance or unintentionally.

6. (intransitive) To take a position relative to something else in a sequence.

8. (intransitive, often vulgar, slang) To achieve orgasm; to cum; to ejaculate.

9. (intransitive, of milk) To become butter by being churned.
10. (copulative, figuratively) To approach or reach a state of being or accomplishment.

11. (figuratively, with to) To take a particular approach or point of view in regard to something.

12. (copulative, fossil word) To become, to turn out to be.
13. (intransitive) To be supplied, or made available; to exist.

14. (slang) To carry through; to succeed in.

15. (intransitive) To happen.

    Synonyms: come about, occur, take place
16. (intransitive, with from or sometimes of) To have as an origin, originate.
    1. To have a certain social background.
    2. To be or have been a resident or native.

    3. To have been brought up by or employed by.

    4. To begin (at a certain location); to radiate or stem (from).

17. (intransitive, of grain) To germinate.
18. (transitive, informal) To pretend to be; to behave in the manner of; to assume the role of.

Usage notes

• In its general sense, come specifically marks motion towards the deictic centre, (whether explicitly stated or not). Its counterpart, usually referring to motion away from or not involving the deictic centre, is go. For example, the sentence "Come to the tree" implies contextually that the speaker is already at the tree — "Go to the tree" often implies that the speaker is elsewhere. Either the speaker or the listener can be the deictic centre — the sentences "I will go to you" and "I will come to you" are both valid, depending on the exact nuances of the context. When there is no clear speaker or listener, the deictic centre is usually the focus of the sentence or the topic of the piece of writing. "Millions of people came to America from Europe" would be used in an article about America, but "Millions of people went to America from Europe" would be used in an article about Europe.

• When used with adverbs of location, come is usually paired with here or hither. In interrogatives, come usually indicates a question about source — "Where are you coming from?" — while go indicates a question about destination — "Where are you going?" or "Where are you going to?"

• A few old texts use comen as the past participle. Also, in some dialects, like rural Scots and rural Midlands dialects, the form comen is still occasionally in use, so phrases like the following can still be encountered there — Sa thoo bist comen heyr to nim min 'orse frae mee, then? [sä ðuː bɪst cʊmn̩ hiər tə nɪm miːn ɔːrs frə miː | d̪ɛn] (so you have come here to steal my horse from me, then?).

• Formerly the verb be was used as the auxiliary instead of have, for example, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

• The phrase "dream come true" is a set phrase; the verb "come" in the sense "become" is archaic outside of some set phrases like come about, come alive, come clean, come loose, come true and come undone.

• The collocations come with and come along mean accompany, used as "Do you want to come with me?" and "Do you want to come along?" In the Midwestern American dialect, "come with" can occur without a following object, as in "Do you want to come with?" In this dialect, "with" can also be used in this way with some other verbs, such as "take with". Examples of this may be found in plays by Chicagoan David Mamet, such as American Buffalo. This objectless use is not permissible in other dialects.

• The meaning in the sense of to ejaculate or orgasm is often considered vulgar slang. Many style guides and editors recommend the spelling come for verb uses while strictly allowing the spelling cum for the noun. Both spellings are sometimes found in either the noun or verb sense, however. Others prefer to distinguish in formality, using come for any formal usage and cum only in slang, erotic or pornographic contexts.

Conjugation

Antonyms

• leave, go, depart, exit, withdraw, retreat, flee

Derived terms

Related terms

• c'mere
• c'min
• c'mon

Descendants

• Solombala English: комъ (kom)

Translations

See also

• cam'st
• kingdom come

Noun

come (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Coming, arrival; approach.
2. (vulgar, slang) Semen

3. (vulgar, slang) Female ejaculatory discharge.

Usage notes

• The meaning of semen or female ejaculatory discharge is considered vulgar slang. Many style guides and editors recommend the spelling come for verb uses while strictly allowing the spelling cum for the noun. Both spellings are sometimes found in either the noun or verb sense, however. Others prefer to distinguish in formality, using come for any formal usage and cum only in slang, erotic or pornographic contexts.

Derived terms

• cum

Preposition

come

1. Used to indicate a point in time at or after which a stated event or situation occurs.

Usage notes

• Came is sometimes used instead when the events occurred in the past.

Interjection

come

2. (dated or formal) An exclamation to express annoyance.

3. (dated or formal) An exclamation to express encouragement, or to precede a request.

Etymology 2

See comma.

Noun

come (plural comes)

2. (typography, obsolete) Alternative form of comma in its medieval use as a middot ⟨·⟩ serving as a form of colon.

References

See also

• come stà (etymologically unrelated)

Anagrams

• ECMO, MECO, meco-

Asturian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkome/ [ˈko.me]
• Rhymes: -ome
• Syllabification: co‧me

Verb

come

1. third-person singular present indicative of comer

Adverb

come

1. Alternative form of como

Conjunction

come

1. Alternative form of como

Galician

Verb

come

1. inflection of comer:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Italian

Alternative forms

• com' (apocopic, sometimes before a vowel)
• com, con (apocopic, obsolete)
• comed (archaic, before vowels)

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin quōmodo et.

Pronunciation

• (how) IPA^(key): /ˈko.me/, (traditional) /ˈko.me/^*
• (like) IPA^(key): /ˈko.me/^*
• Rhymes: -ome
• Hyphenation: có‧me

Adverb

come

1. how

   Come stai? ― How are you? (informal)

   Come sta? ― How are you? (formal)

2. as, like

   blu come il mare ― as blue as the sea

3. such as

Derived terms

• come mai
• come no
• come se

Conjunction

come

1. as soon as

   come arrivò… ― as soon as he arrived…

Derived terms

• come non detto

Further reading

• come in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• come in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Anagrams

• meco

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkoː.me/, [ˈkoːmɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈko.me/, [ˈkɔːme]

Adjective

cōme

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of cōmis

References

• “come”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English cyme, from Proto-West Germanic *kumi, from Proto-Germanic *kumiz.

The predominance of /u/, /oː/ is due to the influence of the related verb comen.

Alternative forms

• cume, coom, coome
• kime, keome (Early Middle English)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkum(ə)/, /ˈkoːm(ə)/

Noun

come (plural comes)

1. arrival, coming

Descendants

• English: come (obsolete)
• Scots: come

References

• “cǒme, cọ̄me, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From Old English cuma, from cuman (“to come”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkum(ə)/

Noun

come (plural comes)

1. guest, stranger

References

• “cǒme, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

Noun

come (plural comes)

1. Alternative form of coumb

Etymology 4

Noun

come (plural comes)

1. Alternative form of comb

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkoː.me/

Verb

cōme

1. inflection of cuman:
   1. second-person singular preterite indicative
   2. singular preterite subjunctive

Old French

Etymology 1

Inherited from Late Latin quōmodo et.

Alternative forms

• comme, conme
• con, cum

Adverb

come

1. how
2. as, like

Derived terms

• coment

Descendants

• Middle French: comme
  • French: comme
• Norman: comme, coumme

References

• “come1”, in DEAF: Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1968-.

Etymology 2

From Latin coma.

Noun

come oblique singular, f (oblique plural comes, nominative singular come, nominative plural comes)

1. head of hair, mane

Descendants

• Middle French: come

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cŏma”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, page 935

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: co‧me

Verb

come

1. inflection of comer:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkome/ [ˈko.me]
• Rhymes: -ome
• Syllabification: co‧me

Verb

come

1. inflection of comer:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Yola

Verb

come

1. Alternative form of coome

References

• 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, published 1867, page 41