stem
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stem¹
- /stɛm/ US, UK
- /stɪm/ US, pin pen merger
- /stem/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like stim (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛm
Where it comes from
From Middle English stem, stemme, stempne, stevin, from Old English stemn (“stem”), from Proto-West Germanic *stamni, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz (“stem, tree stalk”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, stay”).
Cognates
Cognate with Dutch stam (“stem”), German Stamm (“stem”), Danish and Norwegian stamme (“stem”), Danish stavn, stævn (“stem of a boat”), Faroese stavnur (“stem of a boat”), stovnur (“institution, public body, foundation, basis”), Icelandic stafn (“stem of a boat”), stofn (“trunk, stock, livestock, stem”), Norn stomna, stimna (“strength, ability”), Swedish stäm (“tree trunk, stem”), stäv (“stem of a boat”), stomme (“frame, structure”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍉𐌼𐌰 (stōma, “substantial grounds, just cause”), Asturian estame (“stamen”), Aragonese estambre (“stamen”), Catalan estam (“stamen”), French étaim (“yarn”), Galician estame (“stamen, yarn”), Italian stame (“stamen”), Portuguese estame (“stem, yarn”), Spanish Spanish estambre (“stamen, a type of yarn”), Latin stāmen (“warp of a loom, thread hanging from a distaff”), Ancient Greek στῆμα (stêma, “stamen of a flower”), στάμνος (stámnos, “earthen jar, bottle for racking off wine”), Albanian shtamë (“pot, jar, pitcher, jug”), Sanskrit स्थामन् (sthā́man, “place, strength”). Doublet of stamen.
Not related to English stoma, which is a Greek loan inherited through New Latin.
noun stems
- The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors. Where ye may all that are of noble ſtemm / Approach, and kiſs her ſacred veſtures hemm.
- A branch of a family. This is a stem / Of that victorious stock.
- A branch, or group of branches, located outside a family or other cladistic group, but which is more closely related to that group than to any other taxon of the same rank.
- An advanced or leading position; the lookout. Wolsey sat at the stem more than twenty years.
- The above-ground stalk (technically axis) of a vascular plant, and certain anatomically similar, below-ground organs such as rhizomes, bulbs, tubers, and corms. After they are shot up thirty feet in length, they spread a very large top, having no bough nor twig in the trunk or the stem.
- A slender supporting member of an individual part of a plant such as a flower or a leaf; also, by analogy, the shaft of a feather. the stem of an apple or a cherry
- A narrow part on certain man-made objects, such as a wine glass, a tobacco pipe, a spoon.
- The main part of an uninflected word to which affixes may be added to form inflections of the word. A stem often has a more fundamental root. Systematic conjugations and declensions derive from their stems. The praenomen and nomen for the most part consisted of simple stems with the suffix -us or -ius, which correspond to some of the contracted forms in other languages […].
- A person's leg. She was perfectly, fuckably proportioned everywhere else, both above and below her waist. A pocket-size Venus, with the longest stems he'd ever seen on someone so dang diminutive.
- The penis. Waves of ecstasy roll through him as the moustachioed Casanova slides his stem in and out of the spaced-out chick.
- A vertical stroke of a letter.
- A vertical stroke marking the length of a note in written music.
- A premixed portion of a track for use in audio mastering and remixing. Stem mastering processes a mix by breaking it down into several manageable pieces—that is, stereo stems. The stem approach allows the mastering engineer the opportunity to make larger or smaller changes to separate mix elements before the final compression and limiting are applied to the complete mi
- The vertical or nearly vertical forward extension of the keel, to which the forward ends of the planks or strakes are attached.
-
The front part of a vessel.
from stem to stern
Similar: bow, fore, forestem, prow, beak, prore · Opposite: stern, aft, poop
- A component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork.
- A part of an anatomic structure considered without its possible branches or ramifications.
- A crack pipe; or the long, hollow portion of a similar pipe (i.e. meth pipe) resembling a crack pipe.
- A winder on a clock, watch, or similar mechanism.
verb stems · stemming · stemmed
- To remove the stem from. to stem cherries; to stem tobacco leaves
-
To be caused or derived; to originate.
The current crisis stems from the short-sighted politics of the previous government.
Similar: to be due to, to arise from
- To descend in a family line.
- To direct the stem (of a ship) against; to make headway against. Nor is the pre-eminent tremendousness of the great Sperm Whale anywhere more feelingly comprehended, than on board of those prows which stem him.
- To hit with the stem of a ship; to ram. As when two warlike Brigandines at sea, / With murdrous weapons arm'd to cruell fight, / Doe meete together on the watry lea, / They stemme ech other with so fell despight, / That with the shocke of their owne heedlesse might, / Their wooden ribs are shaken nigh a sonder […]
- To ram (clay, etc.) into a blasting hole.
stem²
- /stɛm/ US, UK
- /stɪm/ US, pin pen merger
- /stem/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like stim (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛm
Where it comes from
From Middle English stemmen, a borrowing from Old Norse stemma (“to stop, stem, dam”) (whence Danish stemme/stæmme (“to stem, dam up”)), from Proto-Germanic *stammijaną. Cognate with German stemmen, Middle Dutch stemmen, stempen. Compare stammer.
verb stems · stemming · stemmed
- To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood). to stem a tide
- To move the feet apart and point the tips of the skis inward in order to slow down the speed or to facilitate a turn.
- To use a stance with the feet spread apart, bracing them in opposite directions against the two walls of a chimney or dihedral.
stem³
- /stɛm/ US, UK
- /stɪm/ US, pin pen merger
- /stem/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like stim (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛm
noun stems
- Alternative form of steem
stem⁴
- /stɛm/ US, UK
- /stɪm/ US, pin pen merger
- /stem/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like stim (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛm
Where it comes from
Acronym of science, technology, engineering, (and) mathematics.
noun stems
- Alternative form of STEM Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields are a particular cause for concern because within them there are more pronounced stereotypes, extreme competitiveness and gender inequities regarding the abilities and competencies of black male and female students.
stem⁵
- /stɛm/ US, UK
- /stɪm/ US, pin pen merger
- /stem/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like stim (pin–pen merger) · Rhymes with -ɛm
Where it comes from
Blend of stud + femme.
noun stems
- Alternative spelling of stemme (“lesbian who combines stud and femme traits”).
STEM⁶
- /stɛm/
Sounds like stem · Rhymes with -ɛm
noun STEMs
- Acronym of scanning transmission electron microscope
- Acronym of science, technology, engineering, (and) mathematics. Although these six classifications of the scope and responsibility and specific engineering expertise are interesting and useful, they come from within engineering itself and they don’t help us to disentangle STEM.
Stem⁷
proper noun Stems
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: radical, staunch, base, theme, root word, fore, stanch, halt, shank, bow, prow, stalk, root, progenitor, kin, strain
Translations
Every language
noun branch of a family
| Deutsch | Zweig, Seitenlinie |
|---|---|
| Italiano | ceppo, ramo, linea |
noun stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors
| Português | ramo |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Geschlecht, Stamm, Herkunft |
| Italiano | ceppo, ramo, linea di discendenza, linea |
| Русский | род rod |
noun advanced or leading position
| Italiano | vertice |
|---|
noun botany: above-ground stalk of a vascular plant
| Español | tallo |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 경 gyeong |
| 日本語 | 茎 kuki, 幹 miki |
| 中文 | 莖 /茎 jīng, 樹幹 /树干 shùgàn |
| Kiswahili | shina |
| Português | caule |
| Français | tige |
| Deutsch | Stamm, Sprossachse |
| Italiano | ceppo, fusto, tronco, gambo |
| Ελληνικά | μίσχος míschos |
| Română | tulpină, trunchi |
| Русский | ствол stvol, сте́бель stébelʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | thân |
| العربية | سَاق نَبَات sāq nabāt |
| עברית | גִּבְעוֹל giv'ol |
noun slender supporting member for an individual part of a plant
| 日本語 | 茎 kuki, 軸 jiku |
|---|---|
| Português | haste |
| Français | tige |
| Deutsch | Stängel, Stiel, Halm, Strunk |
| Italiano | gambo, picciolo, peduncolo, stelo |
| Ελληνικά | κοτσάνι kotsáni |
| Română | peduncul, picior, coadă |
| Русский | черено́к čerenók, цветоно́жка cvetonóžka, плодоно́жка plodonóžka |
noun narrow supporting structure on certain man-made objects
| Español | vástago |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 軸 jiku, 柄 e |
| Deutsch | Stiel, Holm |
| Italiano | gambo, stelo |
| Русский | сте́ржень stérženʹ |
noun linguistics: main part of a word
| Español | raíz |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 어간 eogan |
| 日本語 | 語幹 gokan |
| 中文 | 詞幹 /词干 cígàn |
| Português | radical |
| Français | racine, radical |
| Deutsch | Wortstamm, Stamm |
| Italiano | tema, radice |
| Ελληνικά | θέμα théma |
| Română | temă |
| Русский | осно́ва osnóva |
| العربية | أَصْل ʔaṣl |
noun typography: vertical stroke of a letter
| Русский | но́жка nóžka |
|---|
noun music: vertical stroke of a symbol representing a note in written music
| 中文 | 符桿 /符杆 fúgǎn |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Notenhals |
| Italiano | asta, gamba |
noun nautical: forward vertical extension of the keel
| Español | roda |
|---|---|
| Português | talha-mar |
| Français | étrave |
| Deutsch | Vordersteven, Vorsteven, Steven |
| Italiano | ruota di prua, dritto di prua, tagliamare |
| Русский | нос nos, форште́вень forštévenʹ |
noun Component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the bicycle fork
| Español | potencia, tija de manillar, vástago |
|---|---|
| Français | potence |
| Deutsch | Vorbau |
verb to remove the stem from
| Français | équeuter |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | entstielen |
| Русский | отделя́ть |
verb to be caused or derived
| Español | arrancar [de], venir [de], proceder [de], dimanar [de], resultar [de], ser ocasionado [por] |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 発端とする hottan to suru |
| Português | derivar, originar |
| Français | résulter, découler |
| Deutsch | kommen von, herrühren von, sich begründen auf, seine Ursache haben in, verursacht werden |
| Italiano | derivare (da) |
| Русский | происходи́ть proisxodítʹ, произойти́ proizojtí |
verb to descend in a family line
| Español | descender |
|---|---|
| Português | descender |
| Français | provenir |
| Deutsch | stammen, abstammen, herstammen |
| Italiano | discendere |
| Русский | происходи́ть proisxodítʹ, произойти́ proizojtí |
verb to stop, hinder
| 日本語 | 堰止める sekitomeru |
|---|---|
| Português | parar |
| Français | arrêter |
| Deutsch | aufhalten, hemmen, entgegenstemmen, eindämmen, stillen, gegen etwas ankämpfen |
| Italiano | arrestare, tamponare |
| Ελληνικά | σταματώ stamató |
| Русский | проти́виться protívitʹsja, заде́рживать zadérživatʹ, ока́зывать сопротивле́ние okázyvatʹ soprotivlénije, препя́тствовать prepjátstvovatʹ |
verb skiing: to point the skis inward
| 日本語 | シュテムする shutemu suru |
|---|---|
| Français | faire le chasse-neige |
| Deutsch | im Schneepflug fahren, ausstemmen |
| Italiano | aprire lo spazzaneve |
| Русский | тормози́ть "плу́гом" tormozítʹ "plúgom" |
Talk about this word "stem." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/stem. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. stem. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/stem "stem." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/stem.Cite this
@misc{stem_2026,
title = {stem},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/stem},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
