come

See also: comé, comê, Côme, and com'è

English

 come on Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From Middle English comen, cumen, from Old English cuman, from Proto-West Germanic *kweman, from Proto-Germanic *kwemaną (“to come”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷémt (“to step”), from *gʷem- (“to step”).

cognates

Cognate from Proto-Germanic with Scots cum (“to come”), Saterland Frisian kuume (“to come”), West Frisian komme (“to come”), Low German kamen (“to come”), Dutch komen (“to come”), German kommen (“to come”), Norwegian Bokmål and Danish komme (“to come”), Swedish komma (“to come”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Icelandic koma (“to come”).

Cognate from PIE via Latin veniō (“come, arrive”) with many Romance language terms (e.g., French venir, Portuguese vir, Spanish venir), Lithuanian gimti (“to be born, come into the world, arrive”), with terms in Iranian languages (e.g. Avestan 𐬘𐬀𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬍 (jamaⁱtī, “to go”)), via Sanskrit गच्छति (gácchati, “to go”) with many Indic language terms (e.g., Hindi गति (gati)).

Cognate to English basis, from PIE via Ancient Greek.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kʌm/, [kʰɐm], enPR: kŭm

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kʌm/, [kʰʌm], enPR: kŭm

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): [kəm], [km̩], [km] (rapid speech, as in c'mon)
• Homophone: cum
• Rhymes: -ʌm

Verb

come (third-person singular simple present comes, present participle coming, simple past came or (now nonstandard) come, past participle come or (rare) comen)

1. (intransitive) To move nearer to the point of perspective.

   She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes […]

   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     Look, who comes yonder?

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Guinevere”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 253:

     Yet think not that I come to urge thy crimes, / I did not come to curse thee, Guinevere, […]

   1. To move toward the speaker.

      I called the dog, but she wouldn't come.

      Stop dawdling and come here!

   2. To move toward the listener.

      Hold on, I'll come in a second.

      You should ask the doctor to come to your house.

   3. To move toward the object that is the focus of the sentence.

      No-one can find Bertie Wooster when his aunts come to visit.

      Hundreds of thousands of people come to Disneyland every year.

   4. (in subordinate clauses and gerunds) To move toward the agent or subject of the main clause.

      King Cnut couldn't stop the tide coming.

      He threw the boomerang, which came right back to him.

   5. To move toward an unstated agent.

      The butler should come when called.

2. (intransitive) To arrive.
   • 1667 June 23 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “June 13th, 1667”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume VI, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1895, →OCLC, page 364:

     Late at night comes Mr. Hudson, the cooper, my neighbour, and tells me that he come from Chatham this evening at five o'clock, and saw this afternoon "The Royal James," "Oake," and "London," burnt by the enemy with their fire-ships: […]

     This passage uses the historical present tense.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, […] , and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.

   • 2013 January 11 [1997], David Bell, Gill Valentine, Consuming Geographies: We Are Where We Eat‎, Routledge, →ISBN, page 140:

     So I'd have ate^[sic] when me Dad had ate, sort of thing, I think, you know when he come home from work, I'd have waited for him, I wouldn't have said I wanted mine at four o'clock […]

3. (intransitive) To appear; to manifest itself; to cause a reaction by manifesting.

   The pain in his leg comes and goes.

   The news came as a shock.

4. (with an infinitive) To begin (to have an opinion or feeling).

   We came to believe that he was not so innocent after all.

   She came to think of that country as her home.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.

5. (with an infinitive) To do something by chance or unintentionally.

   Could you tell me how the document came to be discovered?

6. (intransitive) To take a position relative to something else in a sequence.

   Which letter comes before Y?   Winter comes after autumn.

8. (intransitive, often vulgar, slang) To achieve orgasm; to cum; to ejaculate.
   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 2, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     Nick was more and more seriously absorbed, but then just before he came he had a brief vision of himself, as if the trees and bushes had rolled away and all the lights of London shone in on him: little Nick Guest from Barwick, Don and Dot Guest's boy, fucking a stranger in a Notting Hill garden at night.

   • 2008, Philip Roth, Indignation:

     The sheer unimaginableness of coming into her mouth — of coming into anything other than the air or a tissue or a dirty sock — was an allurement too stupendous for a novice to forswear.

   She came after a few minutes.

   Come in me!

9. (intransitive, of milk) To become butter by being churned.
   • 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:

     when butter does refuse to come

10. (copulative, figuratively) To approach or reach a state of being or accomplishment.

    They came very close to leaving on time.   His test scores came close to perfect.

    One of the screws came loose, and the skateboard fell apart.

11. (figuratively, with to) To take a particular approach or point of view in regard to something.

    He came to SF literature a confirmed technophile, and nothing made him happier than to read a manuscript thick with imaginary gizmos and whatzits.

12. (copulative, fossil word) To become, to turn out to be.

    He was a dream come true.

    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

      How come you thus estranged?

    • 1910, The Poster‎, Poster Advertising Association, Notable Poster Illustrations, page 17:

      He saw a gnarled old woman vigorously scrubbing a very dirty boy, who squirmed under the rough usage and screwed up his eyes and mouth to keep out the soap. "Drat the boy," cried the old lady, wrathfully. "Stand still, do! Will he ever come clean?"

13. (intransitive) To be supplied, or made available; to exist.

    He's as tough as they come.

    Our milkshakes come in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate flavours.

    A new sports car doesn't come cheap.

14. (slang) To carry through; to succeed in.

    You can't come any tricks here.

15. (intransitive) To happen.

    Synonyms: come about, occur, take place

    This kind of accident comes when you are careless.

    • 2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:

      But out of sight is out of mind. And that […] means that many old sewers have been neglected and are in dire need of repair. If that repair does not come in time, the result is noxious and potentially hazardous.

16. (intransitive, with from or sometimes of) To have as an origin, originate.
    1. To have a certain social background.
       • 2011, Kate Gramich, chapter 3, in Kate Roberts, University of Wales Press, →ISBN, page 46:

         While Kate Roberts came from a poor background and, later in life, in the post-Second World War period suffered from severe money shortages, in the early 1930s, she and her husband must have counted themselves relatively well off, particularly in comparison with their neighbours in Tonypandy.

    2. To be or have been a resident or native.

       Where did you come from?

    3. To have been brought up by or employed by.

       She comes from a good family.

       He comes from a disreputable legal firm.

    4. To begin (at a certain location); to radiate or stem (from).

       The river comes from Bear Lake.

       Where does this road come from?

17. (intransitive, of grain) To germinate.
18. (transitive, informal) To pretend to be; to behave in the manner of.

    Don’t come the innocent victim. We all know who’s to blame here.

    • 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:

      “Hush! hush! Mr. Sikes,” said the Jew, trembling; “don’t speak so loud!” / “None of your mistering,” replied the ruffian; “you always mean mischief when you come that. You know my name: out with it! I shan’t disgrace it when the time comes.”

Usage notes

In its general sense, come specifically marks motion towards the deictic centre, (whether explicitly stated or not). Its counterpart, usually referring to motion away from or not involving the deictic centre, is go. For example, the sentence "Come to the tree" implies contextually that the speaker is already at the tree — "Go to the tree" often implies that the speaker is elsewhere. Either the speaker or the listener can be the deictic centre — the sentences "I will go to you" and "I will come to you" are both valid, depending on the exact nuances of the context. When there is no clear speaker or listener, the deictic centre is usually the focus of the sentence or the topic of the piece of writing. "Millions of people came to America from Europe" would be used in an article about America, but "Millions of people went to America from Europe" would be used in an article about Europe.

When used with adverbs of location, come is usually paired with here or hither. In interrogatives, come usually indicates a question about source — "Where are you coming from?" — while go indicates a question about destination — "Where are you going?" or "Where are you going to?"

A few old texts use comen as the past participle. Also, in some dialects, like rural Scots and rural Midlands dialects, the form comen is still occasionally in use, so phrases like the following can still be encountered there — Sa thoo bist comen heyr to nim min 'orse frae mee, then? [sä ðuː bɪst cʊmn̩ hiər tə nɪm miːn ɔːrs frə miː | d̪ɛn] (so you have come here to steal my horse from me, then?).

Formerly the verb be was used as the auxiliary instead of have, for example, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

The phrase "dream come true" is a set phrase; the verb "come" in the sense "become" is archaic outside of some set phrases like come about, come alive, come clean, come loose, come true and come undone.

The collocations come with and come along mean accompany, used as "Do you want to come with me?" and "Do you want to come along?" In the Midwestern American dialect, "come with" can occur without a following object, as in "Do you want to come with?" In this dialect, "with" can also be used in this way with some other verbs, such as "take with". Examples of this may be found in plays by Chicagoan David Mamet, such as American Buffalo.^[1] This objectless use is not permissible in other dialects.

The meaning in the sense of to ejaculate or orgasm is often considered vulgar slang. Many style guides and editors recommend the spelling come for verb uses while strictly allowing the spelling cum for the noun. Both spellings are sometimes found in either the noun or verb sense, however. Others prefer to distinguish in formality, using come for any formal usage and cum only in slang, erotic or pornographic contexts.^[2]

Conjugation

infinitive	(to) come
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	come	came, come*
2nd-person singular	come, comest†	came, come*, camest†, camedst†
3rd-person singular	comes, cometh†	came, come*
plural	come
subjunctive	come	came, come*
imperative	come	—
participles	coming	come, comen**

Conjugation of come

^†Archaic or obsolete. * Now nonstandard. ** Rare.

Antonyms

• leave, go, depart, exit, withdraw, retreat, flee

Derived terms

• a bad penny always comes back
• aftercome
• after Saturday comes Sunday
• again-coming
• all good things come to an end
• all good things must come to an end
• all is fish that comes to the net
• all things come to those who wait
• a long time in coming
• ancome
• appetite comes with eating
• as they come
• backward in coming forward
• bad comes to worse
• bad comes to worst
• bad things come in threes
• become
• big things come in small packages
• blow to kingdom come
• burn that bridge when one comes to it
• can I come in
• Christmas came early
• Christmas comes but once a year
• Christmas comes early
• Christmas is coming
• come about
• come a cropper
• come across
• come across with
• come after
• come again
• come a gutser
• come alive
• come-all-ye
• come-all-you
• come aloft
• come-along
• come along
• come a long way
• come and go
• come apart
• come around
• come-around
• come as no surprise
• come at
• come-at-able
• come at a cost
• come at me
• come at me
• come away
• come away empty
• come back
• come back from the dead
• come back to bite
• come back to haunt
• come back to one's senses
• come before
• come between
• come by
• Come By Chance
• come calling
• come clean
• come correct
• come-down
• comedown
• come down
• come down cats and dogs
• come down in stair rods
• come down in the last shower
• come down on
• come down the line
• come down the pike
• come down the road
• come down to
• come down to earth
• come down to us
• come down with
• come down with one's dust
• come down with the dust
• come 'ead
• come 'ed
• come ed
• come first
• come for
• come forth
• come forward
• come from
• come from a Cracker Jack box
• come from a good place
• come from behind
• come from below
• come from below
• come from the right place
• come full circle
• come get some
• come get some
• come good
• come hand
• come head
• come hell or high water
• come-here
• come here to me
• come high
• come hither
• come-hither
• come-hithery
• come home
• come home by weeping cross
• come home to roost
• come in
• come in for
• come in from the cold
• come in from the cold
• come in handy
• come in hot
• come into
• come into being
• come into effect
• come into force
• come into one's own
• come into play
• come into the world
• come in use
• come in useful
• come it
• come it strong
• come knocking
• come knocking
• comeling
• come low
• come of
• come of age
• come-off
• come off
• come off it
• come off second best
• come on
• come-on
• come on down
• come one's way
• come online
• come on over
• come on strong
• come onto
• come on to
• come out
• come-outer
• come-outerism
• come out in
• come out in the wash
• come-outism
• come out of one's shell
• come out of the broom closet
• come out of the closet
• come out of the woodwork
• come out on top
• come out smelling like a rose
• come out smelling of roses
• come out swinging
• come out with
• come-over
• come over
• come-o'-will
• come rain or shine
• come rain or snow
• come rain or snow
• come right
• come round
• come running
• come short
• come the acid
• come the old acid
• come the old soldier
• come the old soldier
• come the raw prawn
• come thick and fast
• come through
• come to
• come to a boil
• come to a close
• come to a head
• come to an end
• come to a sticky end
• come to a stop
• come to bat
• come to be
• come to be
• come-to-bed
• come to bed
• come to blows
• come to find out
• come to fruition
• come together
• come to grief
• come to grips
• come to grips with
• come to hand
• come-to-Jesus
• come to Jesus
• come to life
• come to light
• come to mention it
• come to mind
• come to naught
• come to nothing
• come to nought
• come to oneself
• come to one's hand
• come to one's senses
• come to order
• come to papa
• come to pass
• come to power
• come to rest
• come to someone's aid
• come to someone's rescue
• come to terms
• come to terms with
• come to that
• come to the party
• come to the scratch
• come to think of it
• come to time
• come true
• come under
• come undone
• come unhinged
• come unstuck
• come up
• come up against
• come up and bite
• come up and bite
• come up from behind
• come upon
• come upon the parish
• come upon the parish
• come upon the town
• come-uppance
• come up roses
• come up short
• come up short
• come up smelling like a rose
• come up smelling of roses
• come up snake eyes
• come up to
• come up trumps
• come up with
• come up with snake eyes
• come up with the goods
• come up with the rations
• come what may
• come with
• come with it
• come with the territory
• come with the turf
• come with the turf
• come Yorkshire over
• coming and going
• coming from you
• coming into force
• coming of age
• coming-of-age
• coming out of someone's ears
• coming-out party
• coming through
• coming together
• cross a bridge before one comes to it
• cross that bridge when one comes to it
• cut and come again
• cut-and-come-again
• Daniel come to judgement
• death-come-quickly
• death-come-quickly
• downcome
• do you come here often
• dream come true
• first come first served
• first-come-first-served
• forecome
• forthcome
• get what's coming to one
• go back to where you came from
• good things come in small packages
• good things come in threes
• good things come to those who wait
• have another thing coming
• have another think coming
• have another thought coming
• hold come what may
• how came you so
• how come
• how's come
• I come in peace
• if the mountain won't come to Muhammad
• income
• intercome
• Johnny-come-lately
• Jonny-come-lately
• March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb
• marry come up
• miscome
• misfortunes never come alone
• misfortunes never come singly
• newcome
• non-coming
• not know whether one is coming or going
• off-come
• offcome
• oncome
• oncoming
• one of these odd-come-shortlies
• one's ship comes in
• one's ship comes in
• on the come
• outcome
• overcome
• pride comes before a fall
• proverbs come in pairs
• proverbs often come in pairs
• proverbs should come in pairs
• put two and two together and come up with five
• seven come eleven
• take something as it comes
• thanks for coming
• thanks for coming to my TED Talk
• the bad penny always comes back
• the British are coming
• the call is coming from inside the house
• the chickens come home to roost
• the freaks come out at night
• the handbags come out
• there's more where that came from
• the shape of things to come
• the shape of things to come
• the time has come
• the wheels came off
• the wheels came off the bus
• the wheels came off the wagon
• think all one's Christmases have come at once
• this is where I came in
• this is where we came in
• till the cow come home
• till the cows come home
• 'til the cows come home
• time to come
• tocome
• to come
• to-come
• tomorrow never comes
• un-come-at-able
• un-come-at-able
• undercome
• until Kingdom come
• until the cows come
• until the cows come home
• up and coming
• upcome
• upcoming
• we come in peace
• welcome
• what comes around goes around
• what goes around comes around
• what goes round comes round
• what goes up must come down
• what go round come round
• what go round come round
• what's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh
• when it comes to
• when push comes to shove
• when the time comes
• when two Sundays come together
• where I come from
• where someone is coming from
• why come
• why come
• world to come
• worse comes to worse
• worse comes to worst
• worst comes to worst

 

Related terms

• c'mere
• c'min
• c'mon

Descendants

• Solombala English: комъ (kom)

Translations

to move nearer

Abkhaz: аара (aara) Adyghe: къэкӏон (qɛkʷʼon) Afrikaans: kom (af) Akan: bra Albanian: vij (sq) Arabic: جَاءَ (ar) (jāʔa), أَتَى (ar) (ʔatā) Egyptian Arabic: جا (gā), جه (geh) Hijazi Arabic: جا (jā) Moroccan Arabic: جا (jā) North Levantine Arabic: إجا (ʔijā) South Levantine Arabic: إجا (ʔijā), أجا (ʔajā) Tunisian Arabic: جاء (jāʔ) Armenian: գալ (hy) (gal) Aromanian: vin, yin Assamese: আহ (ah) Asturian: venir (ast) Avestan: 𐬘𐬀𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (jamaiti) Azerbaijani: gəlmək (az) Bakhtiari: اودن (aweðen) Balinese: teka Basque: etorri Bavarian: kemma Belarusian: прыбыва́ць impf (prybyvácʹ), прыбы́ць pf (prybýcʹ); (on foot) прыхо́дзіць impf (pryxódzicʹ), прыйсці́ pf (pryjscí); (by vehicle) прыязджа́ць impf (pryjazdžácʹ), прые́хаць pf (pryjéxacʹ) Bengali: আসা (bn) (aśa) Bhojpuri: आइल (āil) Borôro: aregodu Brahui: barr Bulgarian: и́двам (bg) impf (ídvam), до́йда pf (dójda) Burmese: လာ (my) (la) Catalan: venir (ca) Chagatai: کلادو (kelādū) Chechen: лела (lela) Chinese: Cantonese: 嚟 (yue) (lei4; lai4) Dungan: лэ (le) Eastern Min: 來／来 (lì) Mandarin: 來／来 (zh) (lái) Wu: 來／来 (6le) Classical Nahuatl: huītz Crimean Tatar: kelmek Czech: přicházet (cs) impf, přijít (cs) pf; přijíždět (cs) impf, přijet (cs) pf (by transport) Dalmatian: vener Danish: komme (da) Dolgan: кэл (kel) Dutch: komen (nl) Early Assamese: আস্ (as), আ (a) Egyptian: (jj), (jwj) Esperanto: veni (eo) Estonian: tulema (et) Faroese: koma (fo) Fataluku: ma'u Finnish: tulla (fi) French: venir (fr) Friulian: vignî Galician: vir (gl) Georgian: მისვლა (misvla), ჩამოსვლა (čamosvla) German: kommen (de) Alemannic German: choo Greek: έρχομαι (el) (érchomai) Ancient: ἀφικνέομαι (aphiknéomai), ἔρχομαι (érkhomai), ἱκνέομαι (hiknéomai), ἱκάνω (hikánō), ἵκω (híkō), ἥκω (hḗkō) (have come), ἕπομαι (hépomai) (+ dative of person) Guaraní: ju Haitian Creole: vini Hausa: zo (ha) Hebrew: בָּא (he) (ba) Hindi: आना (hi) (ānā) Hungarian: jön (hu) Hunsrik: komme Icelandic: koma (is) Ido: venar (io) Indonesian: datang (id), mendatangi (id), mendatang (id), mendatangkan (id) Interlingua: venir (ia) Irish: tar Old Irish: do·icc, do·tét Istriot: vignì Italian: venire (it) Jamaican Creole: come Japanese: 来る (ja) (くる, kuru), いらっしゃる (ja) (irassharu) (honorific), おいでになる (o-ide ni naru) (honorific), 参る (ja) (まいる, mairu) (humble) Javanese: teka (jv) Kabardian: къэкӏуэн (kbd) (qɛkʷʼɛn) Kamta: aṣ Karakhanid: کَلْماكْ (kelmēk) Kashmiri: یُن (yun) Kazakh: келу (kk) (kelu) Khakas: килерге (kilerge) Khmer: មក (km) (mɔɔk) Kikuyu: ũka Korean: 오다 (ko) (oda) Kumyk: гелмек (gelmek) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: ھاتن (hatin) Northern Kurdish: hatin (ku) Kyrgyz: келүү (ky) (kelüü) Lao: ມາ (mā) Latin: venio (la), progredior (la) Latvian: nākt (lv) Lithuanian: ateiti (lt) Lombard: vegnì (lmo) Lü: ᦙᦱ (maa) Lushootseed: ʔəƛ̕ Macedonian: доаѓа impf (doaǵa), дојде pf (dojde) Makasae: ma'u Malay: datang (ms), mari (ms) Maltese: ġie Manchu: ᠵᡳᠮᠪᡳ (jimbi) Mansaka: datung Manx: tar Maore Comorian: uja Mauritian Creole: vini Middle English: comen Minangkabau: datang (min) Mòcheno: kemmen Mongolian: ирэх (mn) (irex) Nanai: ди- (ʒi-) Neapolitan: venì Nepali: आउनु (ne) (āunu) Norman: v'nîn North Frisian: (Mooring) kaame, (Föhr-Amrum) kem, kum (Sylt) Northern Ohlone: ká̄nak 'íwqisin Northern Thai: ᨾᩣ (ma) Norwegian: Bokmål: komme (no) Nynorsk: koma Occitan: venir (oc), vir Odia: ଆସିବା (āsibā) Old English: cuman Old Javanese: tĕka Old Saxon: kuman Old Turkic: 𐰚𐰠 (kel-) Ossetian: ӕрцӕуын (ærcæwyn) Ottoman Turkish: گلمك (gelmek) Papiamentu: bini Pashto: راتلل (ps) (rātlᶕl) Pennsylvania German: kumme Persian: آمدن (fa) (âmadan) Phoenician: 𐤁𐤀 (bʾ) Pipil: witz, huitz Polish: (on foot) przychodzić (pl) impf, przyjść (pl) pf; (by vehicle) przyjeżdżać (pl) impf, przyjechać (pl) pf Portuguese: vir (pt) Punic: 𐤁𐤀 (bʾ) Punjabi: ਆਉਣਾ (pa) (āuṇā), آوݨا (āvṇā) Quechua: hamuy (qu), hamui, şamui, jamuy Rohingya: ai Romanian: veni (ro) Romansch: vegnir, vagnir, neir, gnir Russian: приходи́ть (ru) impf (prixodítʹ), прийти́ (ru) pf (prijtí); приезжа́ть (ru) impf (prijezžátʹ), прие́хать (ru) pf (prijéxatʹ) (by transport) Sanskrit: गमति (gamati), आगच्छति (āgacchati) Sardinian: bènnere, benni, bènniri, vènnere Scots: cum Scottish Gaelic: thig Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: доћи pf Roman: doći pf Shan: please add this translation if you can Sicilian: vèniri (scn) Sinhalese: එනවා (si) (enawā) Slovak: prichádzať impf, prísť pf Slovene: priti (sl) pf Somali: imasho Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: pśiś, se póraś impf Southern Altai: келер (keler) Spanish: venir (es) Sundanese: sumping Swahili: kuja Swedish: komma (sv) Sylheti: ꠀꠃꠣ (aua) Tagalog: pumunta, magpunta Tajik: омадан (tg) (omadan) Talysh: ome Tamil: வா (ta) (vā) Tatar: килергә (tt) (kilergä) Telugu: please add this translation if you can Tetum: mai Thai: มา (th) (maa) Tibetan: ཡོང (yong), ཕེབས (phebs) (honorific) Tocharian A: kum-, käm- Tocharian B: käm- Turkish: gelmek (tr) Turkmen: gelmek (tk) Tuvan: келир (kelir) Tyap: bai (kcg) Ukrainian: прихо́дити (uk) impf (pryxódyty), прийти́ (uk) pf (pryjtý); приїжджа́ти impf (pryjiždžáty), приї́хати pf (pryjíxaty), приїзди́ти impf (pryjizdýty) (by transport) Urdu: آنا (ur) (ānā) Uyghur: كەلمەك (kelmek) Uzbek: kelmoq (uz) Venetan: vegner (vec) Vietnamese: lại (vi), đến (vi) Walloon: vni (wa), vini (wa) Welsh: dod (cy) West Frisian: komme (fy) White Hmong: los Yakut: кэл (kel) Yámana: akata Yiddish: קומען (kumen) Yoruba: wá, bọ̀ Yucatec Maya: taal Yurok: nes, neskwechook' Zazaki: amaene, amayen, ameyene (diq) Zealandic: komme Zhuang: daeuj Zulu: -za

to arrive, to appear

Arabic: قَدِمَ (ar) (qadima), وَصَلَ (ar) (waṣala) Egyptian Arabic: وصل (wiṣil) Gulf Arabic: وصل (wiṣal) Hijazi Arabic: وصل (wiṣil), جا (jā) Moroccan Arabic: وصل (wṣal), جا (jā) North Levantine Arabic: وصل (wuṣil, wuṣul) South Levantine Arabic: وصل (wiṣil) Tunisian Arabic: وصل (wuṣil) Bulgarian: пристигам (bg) (pristigam), явявам се (javjavam se) Chinese: Cantonese: 到 (dou3) Mandarin: 到 (zh) (dào) Czech: přijít (cs) Danish: ankomme, komme (da) Finnish: saapua (fi), tulla (fi) French: arriver (fr) Galician: vir (gl) German: kommen (de), ankommen (de) Greek: Ancient: ἱκάνω (hikánō) Hungarian: megjön (hu), jön (hu) Irish: tar Italian: arrivare (it), apparire (it), manifestarsi (it) Jamaican Creole: come, reach, touch een Japanese: 着く (ja) (tsuku) Kashmiri: یُن (yun) Korean: 도착하다 (ko) (dochakhada), 이르다 (ko) (ireuda) Macedonian: доаѓа (doaǵa), пристига (pristiga) Middle English: comen, lenden Mòcheno: kemmen Norwegian: ankomme, komme (no) Persian: رسیدن (fa) (rasidan, residan) Portuguese: chegar (pt) Quechua: jamuy Russian: прибыва́ть (ru) impf (pribyvátʹ), прибы́ть (ru) pf (pribýtʹ) Scots: kyth Scottish Gaelic: thig Serbo-Croatian: doći Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: pśiś, se póraś impf Turkish: olmak (tr), gelmek (tr) Zulu: -fika

to begin to have an opinion or feeling

Chinese: Mandarin: 起來／起来 (zh) (qǐlai) Hungarian: meg- (hu) Middle English: lenden

to do something by chance, without intending to do it

to have a relative position in a sequence

Czech: předejít (cs) Dutch: komen (nl) Finnish: tulla (fi), olla (fi) French: venir (fr) Hungarian: jön (hu) Japanese: 来る (ja) (kuru) Turkish: gelmek (tr)

to orgasm

Bulgarian: свъ́ршвам (bg) (svǎ́ršvam) Catalan: escórrer-se (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 射 (zh) (shè), 射精 (zh) (shèjīng), (slang) 出水 (zh) (chūshuǐ) Czech: udělat (cs) se Danish: komme (da), ejakulere Dutch: klaarkomen (nl) Esperanto: ĉuri (eo) Finnish: tulla (fi), saada orgasmi, laueta (fi) French: jouir (fr), venir (fr) German: kommen (de) Greek: χύνω (el) (chýno) (slang) Hebrew: גָּמַר (he) (gamár) (slang), שָׁפַך (he) (shafákh) (slang, "ejaculate") Hungarian: elélvez (hu), elmegy (hu) Icelandic: fá það Interlingua: venir (ia) Italian: venire (it), venirsene Jamaican Creole: bruk Japanese: いく (ja) (iku), イく (iku) Korean: 가다 (ko) (gada) (slang) Latin: patrō Macedonian: свршува (svršuva) Norwegian: komme (no) Polish: dochodzić (pl) impf, dojść (pl) pf Portuguese: gozar (pt), vir (pt)-se Russian: конча́ть (ru) impf (končátʹ), ко́нчить (ru) pf (kónčitʹ), спусти́ть (ru) pf (spustítʹ) (colloquial), эякули́ровать (ru) (ejakulírovatʹ) (medical), изверга́ть (ru) impf (izvergátʹ) (formal) Serbo-Croatian: svršiti (sh) (colloquial) Spanish: correrse (es), venirse (es), acabar (es) Thai: ถึงจุดสุดยอด (těung jùt sùt yôt), เสร็จ (th) (sèt) Vietnamese: xuất (vi), ra (vi) Zazaki: yen

to become

Bulgarian: случвам се (slučvam se), ставам (bg) (stavam) Finnish: tulla (fi) French: devenir (fr) Hungarian: válik (hu) Japanese: 成る (ja) (naru) Macedonian: станува (stanuva) Russian: станови́ться (ru) impf (stanovítʹsja), стать (ru) pf (statʹ) Vietnamese: thành (vi), trở nên (vi), trở thành (vi) Zazaki: bıyen Zulu: -ba

to turn out to be

Finnish: tulla (fi) French: s’avérer (fr), se révéler (fr) Hungarian: bizonyul (hu) Japanese: 成る (ja) (naru) Russian: ока́зываться (ru) impf (okázyvatʹsja), оказа́ться (ru) pf (okazátʹsja)

See also

• cam'st
• kingdom come

Noun

come (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Coming, arrival; approach.
   • 1869, RD Blackmoore, Lorna Doone, section II:

     “If we count three before the come of thee, thwacked thou art, and must go to the women.”

2. (vulgar, slang) Semen

   When a man uses a condom during sex, he takes all of his come with him, preventing her from getting pregnant.

3. (vulgar, slang) Female ejaculatory discharge.

Usage notes

The meaning of semen or female ejaculatory discharge is considered vulgar slang. Many style guides and editors recommend the spelling come for verb uses while strictly allowing the spelling cum for the noun. Both spellings are sometimes found in either the noun or verb sense, however. Others prefer to distinguish in formality, using come for any formal usage and cum only in slang, erotic or pornographic contexts.^[3]

Derived terms

• cum

Preposition

come

1. Used to indicate a point in time at or after which a stated event or situation occurs.

   Leave it to settle for about three months and, come Christmas time, you'll have a delicious concoction to offer your guests.

   Come retirement, their Social Security may turn out to be a lot less than they counted on.

   Come summer, we would all head off to the coast.

   • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 14:

     "And a long sea voyage that starts at six o'clock come morning."

   • 2012 November 10, Amy Lawrence, “Fulham's Mark Schwarzer saves late penalty in dramatic draw at Arsenal”, in The Guardian‎:

     Come the final whistle, Mikel Arteta lay flabbergasted on the turf.

   • 2022 October 5, Beatriz Colon, “Celine Dion ushers in holiday season with exciting music news”, in Hello! Magazine‎:

     She announced in April that come 10 February 2023, her songs would be featured in a romantic comedy titled It's All Coming Back To Me […]

Usage notes

• Came is sometimes used instead when the events occurred in the past.

Interjection

come

2. (dated or formal) An exclamation to express annoyance.

   Come come! Stop crying.

   Come now! You must eat it.

3. (dated or formal) An exclamation to express encouragement, or to precede a request.

   Come come! You can do it.

   Come now! It won't bite you.

   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     Her. What wisdome stirs amongst you? Come Sir, now
     I am for you againe: 'Pray you sit by vs,
     And tell's a Tale.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XVIII, page 30:

     Come then, pure hands, and bear the head
     ⁠That sleeps or wears the mask of sleep,
     ⁠And come, whatever loves to weep,
     And hear the ritual of the dead.

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.

Etymology 2

See comma.

Noun

come (plural comes)

2. (typography, obsolete) Alternative form of comma in its medieval use as a middot ⟨·⟩ serving as a form of colon.
   • 1824, J. Johnson, Typographia:

     There be five manner of points and divisions most used among cunning men; the which if they be well used, make the sentence very light and easy to be understood, both to the reader and hearer: and they be these, virgil,—come,—parenthesis,—plain point,—interrogative.

   • 1842, F. Francillon, An Essay on Punctuation‎, page 9:

     Whoever introduced the several points, it seems that a full-point, a point called come, answering to our colon-point, a point called virgil answering to our comma-point, the parenthesis-points and interrogative-point, were used at the close of the fourteenth, or beginning of the fifteenth century.

References

1. Chicago Dialect
2. Glossophilia
3. Glossophilia

See also

• come stà (etymologically unrelated)

Anagrams

• ECMO, MECO, meco-

Asturian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkome/, [ˈko.me]
• Hyphenation: co‧me

Verb

come

1. third-person singular present indicative of comer

Adverb

come

1. Alternative form of como

Conjunction

come

1. Alternative form of como

Galician

Verb

come

1. inflection of comer:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Italian

Alternative forms

• com' (apocopic, sometimes before a vowel)
• com, con (apocopic, obsolete)
• comed (archaic, before vowels)

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin quōmodo et.

Pronunciation

• (how) IPA^(key): /ˈko.me/, (traditional) /ˈko.me/^*
• (like) IPA^(key): /ˈko.me/^*

  • Audio:

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ome
• Hyphenation: có‧me

Adverb

come

1. how

   Come stai? ― How are you? (informal)

   Come sta? ― How are you? (formal)

2. as, like

   blu come il mare ― as blue as the sea

3. such as

Derived terms

• come mai
• come no
• come se

Conjunction

come

1. as soon as

   come arrivò… ― as soon as he arrived…

Derived terms

• come non detto

Further reading

• come in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• come in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Anagrams

• meco

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkoː.me/, [ˈkoːmɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈko.me/, [ˈkɔːme]

Adjective

cōme

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of cōmis

References

• “come”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English cyme, from Proto-West Germanic *kumi, from Proto-Germanic *kumiz.

The predominance of /u/, /oː/ is due to the influence of the related verb comen.

Alternative forms

• cume, coom, coome
• kime, keome (Early Middle English)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkum(ə)/, /ˈkoːm(ə)/

Noun

come (plural comes)

1. arrival, coming

Descendants

• English: come (obsolete)
• Scots: come

References

• “cǒme, cọ̄me, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From Old English cuma, from cuman (“to come”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkum(ə)/

Noun

come (plural comes)

1. guest, stranger

References

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

Etymology 3

Noun

come (plural comes)

1. Alternative form of coumb

Etymology 4

Noun

come (plural comes)

1. Alternative form of comb

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkoː.me/

Verb

cōme

1. inflection of cuman:
   1. second-person singular preterite indicative
   2. singular preterite subjunctive

Old French

Etymology 1

Inherited from Late Latin quōmodo et.

Alternative forms

• comme, conme
• con, cum

Adverb

come

1. how
2. as, like
   • 12th or 13th century, Thibaut de Champagne, Ausi conme unicorne sui:

     Ausi conme unicorne sui

     I am just like a unicorn.

Derived terms

• coment

Descendants

• Middle French: comme
  • French: comme
• Norman: comme, coumme

References

• “come1”, in DEAF: Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1968-.

Etymology 2

From Latin coma.

Noun

come oblique singular, f (oblique plural comes, nominative singular come, nominative plural comes)

1. head of hair, mane

Descendants

• Middle French: come

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cŏma”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, page 935

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkõ.mi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkõ.mi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈko.me/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔ.mɨ/

• Hyphenation: co‧me

Verb

come

1. inflection of comer:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkome/ [ˈko.me]
• Rhymes: -ome
• Syllabification: co‧me

Verb

come

1. inflection of comer:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Yola

Verb

come

1. Alternative form of coome
   • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:

     Come adh o' mee gazb.

     Come out of my breath.

   • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 14, page 90:

     Come w' ouse, gosp Learry, theezil an Melchere;

     Come with us, gossip Larry, yourself and Miles;

   • 1867, “CASTEALE CUDDE'S LAMENTATION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 1, page 102:

     Ye nyporès aul, come hark to mee,

     Ye neighbours all, come hark to me,

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 41