fem

See also: femme, FEM, fém, fem., and fem-

English

Etymology

Clipping of feminine

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛm/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛm

Noun

fem (plural fems)

1. (LGBT, uncommon) Synonym of femme

   Antonym: butch

   • 2014, Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community, Routledge, →ISBN:

     Oral history gave them an opportunity to share their vision of the world across generations, while giving us a chance to imagine the pleasure and pain of daily life for butches and fems in an earlier period.

2. (colloquial, sometimes derogatory) A feminine or effeminate person.
   • 2014, D Shuckerow, Take off your masc: The hegemonic gay male's gender performance on Grindr, quoting someone on Grindr:

     "Versatile, but love to bottom [...] No divas or fems. Not homophobic at all, just my personal preference."

   • 2018, Luis Menéndez-Antuña, Thinking Sex with the Great Whore: Deviant Sexualities and Empire in the Book of Revelation, Routledge, →ISBN:

     [...] chasers looking for silver daddies, exec types for college jocks, straights for gays, fems for mascs, smooths for hairies, huskies for slims, blacks for Latinos, whites for Asians, straights for gays, white collars for blue collars, ...

Adjective

fem (comparative more fem, superlative most fem)

1. (colloquial) Feminine, effeminate.

   Antonym: masc

2. (LGBT) Synonym of femme

   Antonym: butch

   • 2007, Cameron McCarthy, Globalizing Cultural Studies: Ethnographic Interventions in Theory, Method, and Policy, Peter Lang, →ISBN, page 79:

     Dozens of queers, including female to male/male to female transsexuals, leathers, bears and bisexuals, butch and fem lesbians, […]

Derived terms

• femboy (a feminine male)
• fem lib

Anagrams

• EFM, EMF, MEF, emf

Catalan

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin fimum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈfem]

Noun

fem m (plural fems)

1. dung
2. (chiefly in the plural) manure (animal excrement used as fertilizer)
3. (in the plural, especially Balearic) rubbish

   Synonym: escombraries

Related terms

• femar
• femejar
• femer
• femta

 

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Alternative forms

• (Balearic) feim (indicative), facem (subjunctive, imperative)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈfɛm]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈfəm]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈfem]

Verb

fem

1. inflection of fer:
   1. first-person plural present indicative/subjunctive
   2. first-person plural imperative

Further reading

• “fem” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “fem”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “fem” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “fem” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Danish

Danish cardinal numbers

<  4	5	6  >
Cardinal : fem     Ordinal : femte

Etymology

From Old Norse fimm, from Proto-Germanic *fimf, from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe (“five”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɛmˀ]

Numeral

fem

1. five

Elfdalian

Elfdalian cardinal numbers

<  4	5	6  >
Cardinal : fem     Ordinal : femt

Etymology

From Old Norse fimm, from Proto-Germanic *fimf. Cognate with Swedish fem.

Numeral

fem

1. five

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English femme, fem (with the rarer spelling borrowed to avoid ambiguity with French femme (“woman”)). English fem is itself from French femme.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛm/

Noun

fem f (plural fems)

1. a femme (feminine queer woman) (contrast butch)
   • 2007, Wendy Delorme, Quatrième génération, Bernard Grasset, pages 23–24:

     Pour faire simple, une fem (prononcer « faime ») c’est une gouine qui n’a rien contre les jupes, les talons hauts, le vernis à ongles et le maquillage. […] On confond parfois les fems avec les lipstick lesbiennes, les charmantes saphiques éthérées comme on en a vu à la fin des années 90 dans les pubs Dior, Benetton et Versace. […] Les fems ont ça de différent des lipstick lesbiennes que notre féminité n’est pas un passe-droit pour d’intégrer, mais au contraire le drapeau de la subversion.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Bokmål cardinal numbers

<  4	5	6  >
Cardinal : fem     Ordinal : femte

Etymology

From Old Norse fimm (“five”), from Proto-Germanic *fimf, ultimately from *pémpe, variant of Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛm/

Numeral

fem

1. five

Derived terms

• femdel
• femdoble
• femkamp
• femkant
• femsifret
• tjuefem

 

Related terms

• femte

References

• “fem” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk cardinal numbers

<  4	5	6  >
Cardinal : fem     Ordinal : femte

Etymology

From Old Norse fimm (“five”).

Numeral

fem

1. five

Derived terms

• femdel
• femkamp
• femkant
• tjuefem

References

• “fem” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romansch

Alternative forms

• fim (Rumantsch Grischun)
• füm (Puter, Vallader)

Etymology

From Latin fūmus.

Noun

fem m

1. (Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) smoke

Swedish

Swedish numbers ^(edit)

	50
←  4	5	6  →
Cardinal: fem     Ordinal: femte     Ordinal abbreviation: 5:e     Multiplier: femfaldig     Fractional: femtedel

Etymology

From Old Norse fimm (“five”), from Proto-Germanic *fimf, ultimately from *pémpe, variant of Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛm/

• Audio:

  (file)

Numeral

fem

1. five

Coordinate terms

	—0	—1	—2	—3	—4	—5	—6	—7	—8	—9
0—	noll	en/ett	två	tre	fyra	fem	sex	sju	åtta	nio
1—	tio	elva	tolv	tretton	fjorton	femton	sexton	sjutton	arton/aderton	nitton
2—	tjugo	tjugoen/-ett	tjugotvå	tjugotre	tjugofyra	tjugofem	tjugosex	tjugosju	tjugoåtta	tjugonio
3—	trettio	trettioen/-ett	trettiotvå	trettiotre	trettiofyra	trettiofem	trettiosex	trettiosju	trettioåtta	trettionio
4—	fyrtio	fyrtioen/-ett	fyrtiotvå	fyrtiotre	fyrtiofyra	fyrtiofem	fyrtiosex	fyrtiosju	fyrtioåtta	fyrtionio
5—	femtio	femtioen/-ett	femtiotvå	femtiotre	femtiofyra	femtiofem	femtiosex	femtiosju	femtioåtta	femtionio
6—	sextio	sextioen/-ett	sextiotvå	sextiotre	sextiofyra	sextiofem	sextiosex	sextiosju	sextioåtta	sextionio
7—	sjuttio	sjuttioen/-ett	sjuttiotvå	sjuttiotre	sjuttiofyra	sjuttiofem	sjuttiosex	sjuttiosju	sjuttioåtta	sjuttionio
8—	åttio	åttioen/-ett	åttiotvå	åttiotre	åttiofyra	åttiofem	åttiosex	åttiosju	åttioåtta	åttionio
9—	nittio	nittioen/-ett	nittiotvå	nittiotre	nittiofyra	nittiofem	nittiosex	nittiosju	nittioåtta	nittionio

Cardinal numbers from 0 to 99

Cardinal numbers from 100 onward

• 100: hundra
• 10³: tusen
• 10⁴: tiotusen (myriad)
• 10⁶: miljon
• 10⁹: miljard
• 10¹²: biljon
• 10¹⁵: biljard
• 10¹⁸: triljon
• 10²¹: triljard
• 10²⁴: kvadriljon
• 10²⁷: kvadriljard
• 10³⁰: kvintiljon
• 10³³: kvintiljard
• 10³⁶: sextiljon
• 10³⁹: sextiljard
• 10⁴²: septiljon
• 10⁴⁵: septiljard
• 10⁴⁸: oktiljon
• 10⁵¹: oktiljard
• 10⁵⁴: noniljon
• 10⁵⁷: noniljard
• 10⁶⁰: deciljon
• 10⁶³: deciljard
• 10⁶⁶: undeciljon
• 10⁶⁹: undeciljard
• 10⁷²: duodeciljon
• 10⁷⁵: duodeciljard
• 10⁷⁸: tredeciljon
• 10⁸¹: tredeciljard
• 10⁸⁴: quattuordeciljon
• 10⁸⁷: quattuordeciljard

…

• 10¹⁰⁰: googol

…

• 10¹²⁰: vigintiljon
• 10¹²³: vigintiljard

…

Related terms

• femaktare
• femaktsdrama
• fembarnsfamilj
• femcylindrig
• femdagarsvecka
• femdraget
• femdubbel
• femdubbla
• femdubbling
• femdygnsperiod
• femdygnsprognos
• femdörrarsbil
• femetta
• femfaldig
• femfemma
• femfilig
• femfingerört
• femfotad
• femgradig
• femhundra
• femhundrade
• femhundralapp
• femhundratalet
• femhundring
• femhörning
• femkamp
• femkampare
• femkant
• femkantig
• femkort
• femkrona
• femkronorsmynt
• femkronorssedel
• femling
• femma
• femmastad
• femmil
• femmilslopp
• femminutersperiod
• femmänning
• femprocentig
• femroddare
• femrummare
• femrums
• femrumslägenhet
• femsetare
• femsetsmatch
• femsiffrig
• femsitsig
• femsnåret
• femspaltig
• femstjärnig
• femsträngad
• femstämmig
• femte
• femtedel
• femteklassare
• femtekolonn
• femteplats
• femti
• femtiden
• femtio
• femton
• femtusen
• femtusende
• femtåig
• femudd
• femuddig
• femudding
• femvåningshus
• femväxlad
• femårig
• femåring
• femårsjubileum
• femårsperiod
• femårsplan
• femårsåldern
• femöring

 

See also

• noll, ett, två, tre, fyra, fem, sex, sju, åtta, nio, tio, elva, tolv

References

• fem in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• fem in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• fem in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Volapük

Etymology

Borrowed from English fermentation.

Noun

fem (nominative plural fems)

1. fermentation

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	fem	fems
genitive	fema	femas
dative	feme	femes
accusative	femi	femis
vocative 1	o fem!	o fems!
predicative 2	femu	femus

declension of fem

• ¹ status as a case is disputed
• ² in later, non-classical Volapük only