英和和英

語源

Onomatopoeic.

発音

• [ʔm.ʔmː] with tense voice; also [mˈm̥m] ; also IPA: /əˈhɛm/
• 韻: -ɛm

間投詞

ahem

1. (onomatopoeia) The sound of a quiet cough or of clearing one's throat.
2. Demanding attention.

   Ahem! Could we please get started?

   • [1606], No-body, and Some-body. […], [London]: […] [James Roberts] for Iohn Trundle […], signature D2, verso:

     Enter Nobody, and the Clowne. / Nobody. Ahem boy, Nobody is ſound yet for all his troubles.

3. Expresses disapproval or annoyance.

   Ahem! In case you didn't notice, I did my share of the work, too.

4. Indicates the speaker does not wish to be perceived as rude, often intimating an impolite meaning to a third party that the speaker is not addressing.
   1. Indicates subtle sarcasm, polite lying, or euphemism.

      I really (ahem!) liked the chocolate broccoli surprise.

   2. Indicates an unintentional or inappropriate pun.
      • 2020 December 15, Jenna M. Wilson, “Fat by Hanne Blank, Bloomsbury Academic, 2020”, in Fat Studies‎, volume 10, number 2, →DOI, pages 205–207:

        The tone of Fat is casual and ahem, digestible, while also providing a succinct and significant overview of fatness and some of the issues most relevant to the burgeoning field of fat studies.

同意語

• (exclamation to get attention): See Thesaurus:hey
• (expression of disapproval): See Thesaurus:tut tut

動詞

ahem (third-person singular simple present ahems, present participle ahemming, simple past and past participle ahemmed)

1. To cough or clear one's throat so as to draw attention.
   • 1856, Louise Chandler Moulton, Juno Clifford, page 108:

     He wouldn't have been suspected of crying for the world, but he coughed and ahemmed, and finally turned away without speaking.

   • 1858, The Peninsular and Independent Medical Journal, page 153:

     A full inspiration, preparatory to hawking, ahemming, or premeditated careful coughing, would excite an explosion of an unusually violent and persistent cough, hurrying the breath out of the poor victims.

参照

アナグラム

• HEMA, Hema, Mahé, ah me, haem, haem-, hame, heam, hæm-