semen

From Middle English semen, from Latin sēmen (“seed”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“to sow; plant”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈsiːmən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːmən
• Homophone: seaman

semen (usually uncountable, plural semens)

2. A sticky, milky fluid produced in male reproductive organs that contains the reproductive cells.
   • 1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 80:

     Sharp protein odor of semen 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., page 162:

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

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

• semen contra

• menes, mense, mesen, mesne, neems

semen

1. third-person plural present indicative of semar
2. third-person plural present subjunctive of semar

Learned borrowing from Latin sēmen.

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

semen m (plural sèmens or sémens)

1. semen, sperm

   Synonym: esperma

• “semen”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɛmɛn]

semen

1. genitive plural of semeno

Learned borrowing from Latin sēmen (“semen, seed”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“to sow; plant”).

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

sèmèn (plural semen-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 from Dutch cement (“cement”), from Old French ciment, from Latin caementum (“quarry stone; stone chips for making mortar”), from caedō (“I cut, hew”). Cognate with Afrikaans sement (“cement”). The sense “cementum” is a semantic loan from English cement.

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

sêmèn (plural semen-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 (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

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

sêmèn (plural semen-semen)

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

• “semen” 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.

From Proto-Italic *sēmən, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₁mn̥ (“seed”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈseː.mɛn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈsɛː.men]

sēmen n (genitive sēminis); third declension

1. seed (of plants)

   Sēmen manū spargere. ― To scatter seed by hand.

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 5.221–222:

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

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

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

     et ignis sēmina convolvunt ē nūbibus.

     and the seeds of fire roll from the clouds.

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

• “semen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “semen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "semen", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium 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

From Arabic سَمْن (samn).

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛ.mɛn/
• Rhymes: -ɛmɛn

semen m

1. butter

   Synonym: butir

From French chemin.

semen

1. road, street

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

Inherited from Old English sēman, from Proto-West Germanic *sōmijan, from Proto-Germanic *sōmijaną.

• seme, semi

• IPA^(key): /ˈseːmən/

semen (third-person singular simple present semeth, present participle semende, semynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle semed)

1. (Early Middle English) To sort out; to resolve, subdue, or confirm.

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

Borrowed from Old Norse sœma, from Proto-Germanic *sōmijaną, thus a doublet of Etymology 1.

• cemyn, seeme, seemen, seme, semy, semyn

• IPA^(key): /ˈseːmən/

semen (third-person singular simple present semeth, present participle semende, semynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle semed)

1. To seem (to be); to look or be perceived 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 it semeþ þat it wolde felle an ook

2. To appear; to become visible or discernible.
3. To believe or assume; to develop a belief:
   1. To deem or consider; to form a judgement.
   2. To consider to be appropriate; to judge as suitable.
4. To be appropriate or right; to suit or befit.
5. (rare) To exist; to be extant.

• bisemen
• seme
• semly

• English: seem
• Scots: seem

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

Inherited from Old English sīman, sēman, from Proto-West Germanic *saumijan; equivalent to seem (“load”) +‎ -en (infinitival suffix).

• seme

• IPA^(key): /ˈseːmən/, /ˈsɛːmən/

semen (third-person singular simple present semeth, present participle semende, semynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle semed)

1. To load up or with; to place upon.
2. (figuratively, rare) To be burdensome or grievous.

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

Back-formation from semăna.

semen m (plural semeni)

1. fellow human

From French chemin.

semen

1. road, street

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

Borrowed from Latin sēmen.

• 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 propio semen.

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

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

   The last time I was in a sex act I was the semen.

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

From Proto-Finnic *seemen, from a Baltic language, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₁mn̥.

semen

1. seed

Inflection of semen (inflection type 22/homen)
nominative sing.	semen
genitive sing.	semnen
partitive sing.	sement
partitive plur.	semnid
	singular	plural
nominative	semen	semned
accusative	semnen	semned
genitive	semnen	semniden
partitive	sement	semnid
essive-instructive	semnen	semnin
translative	semneks	semnikš
inessive	semnes	semniš
elative	semnespäi	semnišpäi
illative	semnehe	semnihe
adessive	semnel	semnil
ablative	semnelpäi	semnilpäi
allative	semnele	semnile
abessive	semneta	semnita
comitative	semnenke	semnidenke
prolative	sementme	semnidme
approximative I	semnenno	semnidenno
approximative II	semnennoks	semnidennoks
egressive	semnennopäi	semnidennopäi
terminative I	semnehesai	semnihesai
terminative II	semnelesai	semnilesai
terminative III	semnessai	—
additive I	semnehepäi	semnihepäi
additive II	semnelepäi	semnilepäi

• semeta
• semenjaugaine
• semenvil'l'

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