tamen

Learned borrowing from Latin tamen.^[1][2] First attested in 1887.^[3]

• IPA^(key): /ˈtamen/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

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• Rhymes: -amen
• Syllabification: ta‧men

tamen

2. however, nevertheless

   Mi devis rezigni miajn dezirojn kaj celojn, sed nun mi tamen estas kontenta.

   I had to resign my aspirations and objectives, but now I am nevertheless content.

   • 2025 November 27, Renée Triolle, “La unua eŭropano, kiu vizitis Tibeton Alexandra David-Néel (1868-1969)”, in uea.facila‎^[1], archived from the original on 23 December 2025:

     Dum la jaroj 1897 ĝis 1900, ŝi kuraĝis vivi kun amanto, muzikisto, kun kiu ŝi tamen ne edziniĝis.

     Between 1897 and 1900, she had the courage to live with a lover, musician, to whom she did not get married.

     (literally, “During the years 1897 until 1900, she became courageous to live with a lover, musician, with who she however did not become a wife.”)

tamen

2. (in response to a negative question or statement) yes; indeed

   Synonym: jes ja

   "Vi ne scipovas stiri biciklon." — "Tamen!"

   "You don't know how to ride a bicycle." — "Yes I do!"

   "Ĉu vi ne venas al la festo?" — "Tamen!"

   "Are you not coming to the party?" — "Indeed I am!"

From Esperanto, from Latin tamen.

tamen

1. however, nevertheless

tamen

1. Rōmaji transcription of ためん

From tam +‎ -em. Last particle in īdem. Compare with its later doublet: tandem, both with original meaning supposedly "so(much)ever".

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈta.mɛn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈtaː.men]
• Note: unlike in tametsī, the graphic m does represent the bilabial nasal /m/.

tamen (not comparable)

1. (usually postpositive, also initial and final) however, in spite of this
   1. (preceded by et, atque/ac, neque/nec, at, sed, vērum)

      ac tamen... ― and yet...

      • 106 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Atticus 13:

        ex duobus librīs contulī in quattuor: grandiōrēs sunt omnīnō quam erant illī, sed tamen multa dētracta

        from two books have I arranged four: they are ampler, in every way, than what used to be in that one [the previous arrangement], and yet many [were] withdrawn

2. (expressing a concession) nevertheless, yet, still, even
   • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 864:

     Simo: Nihil audiō! Ego iam tē commōtum reddam!
     Davus: Tamen etsī hoc vērum·st?
     Simo: Tamen!

     Simo: I'm not listening! Your heart strings are about to get a real good tugging!
     [literally, “I'm about to make you greatly moved!”]
     Davus: Even if it's true?
     Simo: Even so!

3. all the same, just the same (in spite of appearances of the contrary)
   • c. 191 BCE, Plautus, Pseudolus 405:

     […] vīginti minās, quae nūsquam nunc sunt gentium, inveniam tamen.

     […] those twenty mines, which are currently nowhere to be found, I'll find them all the same.

4. (in an aside) although, even if
5. (in a limiting clause) (also with ut or ne) at least

• (nevertheless, yet): etsi, quamquam, at, sed, ast

• tamendem
• attamen
• tamen etsī
• vērumtamen

• Sardinian: tàmen, tàmes
• → Esperanto: tamen
• → Ido: tamen
• → Interlingua: tamen
• Italian: tame

• “tamen” on page 2098 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page ???

• “tamen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tamen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “tamen”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

From tame (“tame”) +‎ -en (infinitival suffix).

tamen (third-person singular simple present tameth, present participle tamende, tamynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle tamed)

1. to tame, domesticate
2. to subdue, overcome

• English: tame
• Scots: tame

• “tāmen, v.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Shortening of attamen (“to cut, pierce”) or entamen (“to injure”), both from Old French.

tamen (third-person singular simple present tameth, present participle tamende, tamynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle tamed)

1. to cut into, carve
2. to broach (a keg, bottle; a subject)

• tame

• English: tame
• Scots: tame

• “tāmen, v.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

tamen

1. woman

• Stephen Adolphe Wurm, New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study (1976)