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Added 9 October 2026

stem

/stɛm/ noun

Categories: LanguagePlantsEveryday Words

In Latin: stirps, caulis Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about stem at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. The stock of a family; a race or generation of progenitors.
  2. A branch of a family. 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.
  3. 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.

verb

  1. To remove the stem from.
    to stem cherries; to stem tobacco leaves
  2. To be caused or derived; to originate.
    The current crisis stems from the short-sighted politics of the previous government.
  3. To descend in a family line.

verb

  1. To stop, hinder (for instance, a river or blood).
    to stem a tide
  2. 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.
  3. To use a stance with the feet spread apart, bracing them in opposite directions against the two walls of a chimney or dihedral.

noun

  1. Alternative form of steem.

Origin

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”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Related Words: radicalstaunchbasethemeforestanchhaltshankbowprowstalk

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