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rum

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rum¹

  • /ɹʌm/ US, UK
  • /ɹʊm/ Northern England
  • /ɾʌm/ Scotland, Wales

Rhymes with -ʌm

Where it comes from

In common use since at least 1654, of uncertain origin. Theories include:

* that it is a shortening of rumbullion or rumbustion, names for rum also attested in the Caribbean during the mid-17th century,

* that it derives from rummer, from Dutch roemer,

* that it is from a Romani word for "strong, potent" which is (perhaps) the source of ramboozle and rumfustian (however, these drinks were not originally made with rum),

* that it derives from rum ("fine, good") or from the last syllable of Latin saccharum (given the harsh taste of earlier rum, this origin is now considered unlikely)

noun rums · rhum

  1. uncountable A spirit distilled from various preparations of sugarcane, particularly fermented cane sugar and molasses. ... I went aboard the Fellowship of 100 and 70 Tuns a Flemish bottom, the Master George Luxon of Bittiford in Devonshire, several of my friends came to bid me farewell, among the rest Captain Thomas Wannerton who drank to me a pint of kill-devil alias Rhum at a draught ...
  2. countable A serving of rum. Jake tossed down three rums.
  3. countable A kind or brand of rum. Bundaberg is one of my favourite rums.
  4. countable, uncountable A similar spirit distilled from similar preparations of sugarbeets, sorghum, etc.
  5. countable, obsolete, slang, uncountable A strange person or thing.

    Similar: odd duck, abnormality

  6. countable, obsolete, slang, uncountable A country parson. No company comes / But a rabble of tenants, and rusty dull rums.

Similar: rumbullion, rumbustion, kill-devil, Nelson's blood, strange fish, weirdo, deviant, outlier

rum²

  • /ɹʌm/ US, UK
  • /ɹʊm/ Northern England
  • /ɾʌm/ Scotland, Wales

Rhymes with -ʌm

Where it comes from

From the earlier form rome (“good”, slang); possibly of Romani origin; compare rom.

adjective rummer · rummest

  1. obsolete Fine, excellent, valuable. having a rum time

    Similar: exceptional

  2. UK, dated, informal Strange, peculiar. a rum idea; a rum fellow

    Similar: bizarre

Similar: pukka, top-notch, queer, rummy

noun rums

  1. UK, colloquial, dated Any odd person or thing.

rum³

  • /ɹʌm/ US, UK
  • /ɹʊm/ Northern England
  • /ɾʌm/ Scotland, Wales

Rhymes with -ʌm

Where it comes from

Shortening of rummy.

noun

  1. rare The card game rummy.

Rum⁴

Where it comes from

From Middle English and Old English, from Proto-West Germanic *Rūmu, from Proto-Germanic *Rūmō under influence from Late Latin Rōma (“Rome; Constantinople; Roman Empire”), from Latin Rōma (“Rome”).

proper noun

  1. alternative, archaic, obsolete Alternative form of Rome: Rome (a major city in Italy).

Rum⁵

Where it comes from

From Seljuk Old Anatolian Turkish and Ottoman Turkish روم (Rum, “Rome; Byzantine Empire; central Anatolia”), from Arabic رُوم (rūm, “Rome; Byzantine Empire”), from Middle Persian 𐭧𐭫𐭥𐭬 (Hrom), from Medieval Greek Ῥωμανία (Rhōmanía, “Byzantine Empire”), from Latin Romani (“Romans”), from Roma (“Rome”). Doublet of Roma and Rome.

proper noun Rûm

  1. historical An eyalet in the Ottoman Empire.

    Similar: Sivas

  2. historical A former polity in Anatolia, a Seljuk sultanate.
  3. archaic Synonym of Anatolia and the Byzantine Empire in historical Turkish contexts.

    Similar: Anatolia and the Byzantine Empire in historical Turkish contexts

Rum⁶

proper noun

  1. alternative Alternative form of Rùm, an island of the Inner Hebrides, Highland council area, Scotland, United Kingdom.

RUM⁷

noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism, uncountable Initialism of real user monitoring RUM may involve sniffing the network connection, adding JavaScript to pages, installing agents on end user machines, or some combination thereof.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: queer, funny, peculiar, strange, singular, odd, curious, unusual, rummy, grog, ale, liquor, place, romany, roma, roman

noun

Similar: rumbullion, rumbustion, kill-devil, Nelson's blood, strange fish, weirdo, deviant, outlier

adjective

Similar: pukka, top-notch, queer, rummy

Translations

Every language

noun distilled spirit

Españolron, romo
한국어럼 reom, 럼주 reomju
日本語ラム ramu, ラム酒 ramu-shu
中文蘭姆酒 /兰姆酒 lánmǔjiǔ, 萊姆酒 /莱姆酒 láimǔjiǔ, 朗姆酒 lǎngmǔjiǔ
हिन्दीरम ram
Portuguêsrum
Françaisrhum
DeutschRum
Italianorum
Ελληνικάρούμι roúmi
Românărom
Русскийром rom
Tiếng Việtrượu rum, rum
العربيةرَم ram
עבריתרום rom

noun serving

Românărom

noun kind or brand

Românărom

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Cite this
MLA

"rum." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/rum. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

rum. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/rum

Chicago

"rum." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/rum.

BibTeX
@misc{rum_2026,
  title = {rum},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/rum},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}