chum
English · Français · Tiếng Việt · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
chum¹
- /t͡ʃʌm/
Rhymes with -ʌm
Where it comes from
1675–85; of uncertain origin, possibly from cham, shortening of chambermate, or from comrade. Less likely from Welsh cymrawd (“fellow”), compare brawd (“brother”).
noun chums · choom
-
A friend; a pal.
He looked down upon the girl beside him—a daughter of the desert walking across the face of a dead world with a son of the jungle. He smiled at the thought. He wished that he had had a sister, and that she had been like this girl. What a bully chum she would have been!
Similar: babber, billy, bredrin, bruv, bud, buddo, buddy, butty, chaver, china, chuck, chum
- A roommate, especially in a college or university. Field had a 'chum,' or room-mate, whose visage was suggestive to the 'Sophs;' it invited experiment; it held out opportunity for their peculiar deviltry.
verb chums · chumming · chummed · choom
- To share rooms with someone; to live together. Henry Wotton and John Donne began to be friends when, as boys, they chummed together at Oxford, where Donne had gone at the age of twelve years.
- To lodge (somebody) with another person or people.
-
To make friends; to socialize.
I was not surprised to see somebody sitting aft, on the deck, with his legs dangling over the mud. You see I rather chummed with the few mechanics there were in that station, whom the other pilgrims naturally despised—on account of their imperfect manners, I suppose.
Similar: chum up
- To accompany. I'll chum you down to the shops.
chum²
- /t͡ʃʌm/
Rhymes with -ʌm
Where it comes from
Originally American English, from the 1850s. Perhaps from Powhatan.
noun
-
A mixture of (frequently rancid) fish parts and blood, dumped into the water as groundbait to attract predator fish, such as sharks.
Near-synonym: shark bait
Similar: berley, burley, shark bait
verb chums · chumming · chummed
- To cast chum into the water to attract fish. He began to chum for sharks, using whale oil and chopped whale meat.
chum³
- /t͡ʃʌm/
Rhymes with -ʌm
noun chums
- A coarse mould for holding the clay while being worked on a whirler, lathe or manually. ...self-supporting chum within the mould normally of corresponding and almost the same but lesser contour, whereby a space is provided between the chum and mould for the introduction of the powdered material and means for expanding the chum'.
chum⁴
- /t͡ʃʌm/
Rhymes with -ʌm
Where it comes from
From Chinook Jargon tzum (“spotted, marked”), from Chinook.
noun chums
-
Synonym of chum salmon.
Similar: chum salmon
chum⁵
- /t͡ʃuːm/
Rhymes with -uːm
Where it comes from
From Russian чум (čum), from Komi-Zyrian чум (ćum) and/or Udmurt чум (ćum, “tent, shelter”).
noun chums
- A temporary dwelling used by the nomadic Uralic reindeer herders of northwestern Siberia.
Chum⁶
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Czech.
proper noun Chums
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: buddy, crony, brother, sidekick, pal, friend, fella, comrade, dude, bro, boyfriend, man, girlfriend, boy, decoy, guy
Translations
Every language
noun a friend; a pal
| Español | amigote, amiguete, compinche, compañero, camarada, amigo |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Kumpel, Freund |
| Italiano | amico |
| Русский | прия́тель prijátelʹ |
noun a roommate
| Deutsch | Mitbewohner |
|---|---|
| Italiano | vicino di stanza, compagno di stanza |
| Русский | това́рищ m по комнате po, сожитель sožitelʹ |
verb Translations
| 中文 | 打窩 /打窝 dǎwō |
|---|
noun housing
| Русский | чум čum |
|---|
Talk about this word "chum." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/chum. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. chum. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/chum "chum." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/chum.Cite this
@misc{chum_2026,
title = {chum},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/chum},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
