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.
   • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 152:

     Then add four drops of crocodile semen, and pass the mixture through a filter.

   • 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]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

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”).

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛmɛn/ [ˈsɛ.mɛn]
• Rhymes: -ɛmɛn
• Syllabification: se‧men

sèmèn (plural semen-semen)

1. (biology) semen

   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.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /səˈmɛn/ [səˈmen]
• Rhymes: -ɛn
• Syllabification: se‧men

sêmèn (plural semen-semen)

1. cement
2. cementum

• (cement): simen (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore)
• (cementum): simentum (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore)

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

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /səˈmɛn/ [səˈmen]
• Rhymes: -ɛn
• Syllabification: se‧men

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 [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), 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.

   • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Cato Maior de Senectute 15.52:

     Omittō enim vim ipsam omnium, quae generantur ē terrā; quae ex fīcī tantulō grānō aut ex acinī vīnāceō aut ex cēterārum frūgum aut stirpium minūtissimīs sēminibus tantōs truncōs rāmōsque prōcreet.

     For I pass over the inherent power of all things that are born of the earth — [that force] which, from so small a fig seed or grape-stone, or the tiniest seeds of other fruits and plants, can bring forth such massive trunks and branches.
     (Note the distinction made between a comparatively large granum and the smallest sēmen.)

   • 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, 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), Diksiyoner kreol morisyeṅ [Mauritian Creole Dictionary] (in French and English), Paris: L'Harmattan, →ISBN

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

• D'Offay, Danielle; Lionnet, Guy (1982), Diksyonner kreol-franse [Creole-French Dictionary] (in French), Hamburg: Buske, →ISBN

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 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

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
• semenvilʹlʹ

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

Borrowed from English semen.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛmɛn/

semen m (uncountable, not mutable)

1. semen

   Synonym: had

• semenol (“seminal”)

• D. G. Lewis, N. Lewis, editors (2005–present), “semen”, in Gweiadur: the Welsh–English Dictionary, Gwerin
• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “semen”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies