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hum

Pronunciation: /ˈhʌm/

The English word “hum” has 17 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A hummed tune, i.e. created orally with lips closed.
  2. An often indistinct sound resembling human humming.
  3. Busy activity, like the buzz of a beehive.
  4. Unpleasant odour.
  5. An imposition or hoax; humbug.
  6. A kind of strong drink.
  7. A phenomenon, or collection of phenomena, involving widespread reports of a persistent and invasive low-frequency humming, rumbling, or droning noise not audible to all people.
  8. Synonym of see hum (“blood cockles, ark clams”).

verb

  1. To make a sound from the vocal cords without pronouncing any real words, with one's lips closed.
  2. To express by humming.
  3. To drone like certain insects naturally do in motion, or sounding similarly.
  4. To buzz, be busily active like a beehive.
  5. To produce low sounds which blend continuously.
  6. To reek, smell bad.
  7. To flatter by approving; to cajole; to deceive or impose upon; to humbug.

interjection

  1. Synonym of hmm: a noise indicating thought, consideration, &c.
  2. Synonym of um: a noise indicating doubt, uncertainty, &c.

Etymology

From Middle English hummen (“to hum, buzz, drone, make a murmuring sound to cover embarrassment”); akin to Dutch hommelen (“to bumble, buzz”), dialectal Dutch hommen (“to buzz, hum”), Middle High German hummen (“to hum”), probably ultimately of imitative origin.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.