ahem

English

Onomatopoeic.^[1]

[ʔm.ʔmː] with tense voice; also [mˈm̥m] ; also spelling pronunciation IPA^(key): /əˈhɛm/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ɛm

ahem

(onomatopoeia) The sound of a quiet cough or of clearing one's throat.
An exclamation or cough to get attention.
Ahem! Could we please get started?
- [1606], No-body, and Some-body. […], [London]: […] [James Roberts] for Iohn Trundle […], signature D2, verso:
  Enter Nobody, and the Clowne. / Nobody. Ahem boy, Nobody is ſound yet for all his troubles.
An exclamation of disapproval or annoyance.
Ahem! In case you didn't notice, I did my share of the work, too.
An exclamation to indicate sarcasm.
I really (ahem!) liked the chocolate broccoli surprise.
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- 2020 December 15, Jenna M. Wilson, “Fat by Hanne Blank, Bloomsbury Academic, 2020”, in Fat Studies‎^[1], volume 10, number 2, →DOI, pages 205–207:
  The tone of Fat is casual and ahem, digestible, while also providing a succinct and significant overview of fatness and some of the issues most relevant to the burgeoning field of fat studies.

onomatopoeia

exclamation or cough to get attention

exclamation of disapproval or annoyance

exclamation to indicate sarcasm

ahem (third-person singular simple present ahems, present participle ahemming, simple past and past participle ahemmed)

To cough or clear one's throat so as to draw attention.
- 1856, Louise Chandler Moulton, Juno Clifford, page 108:
  He wouldn't have been suspected of crying for the world, but he coughed and ahemmed, and finally turned away without speaking.
- 1858, The Peninsular and Independent Medical Journal, page 153:
  A full inspiration, preparatory to hawking, ahemming, or premeditated careful coughing, would excite an explosion of an unusually violent and persistent cough, hurrying the breath out of the poor victims.