Ahem

How to spell ahem

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce ahem

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ahem mean?

1. interjectionA sound used in writing to represent clearing the throat, typically to attract attention, signal mild disapproval, or precede an awkward remark.

Ahem in a sentence

• A loud ahem from the back of the room quieted the chatter.

• She gave a quiet ahem to let the noisy table know the speaker was about to begin.

Where does ahem come from?

Language of origin: Other

This is an imitative word, meaning the spelling was invented to capture an actual sound rather than borrowed from another language. It represents the small, deliberate cough a person makes to clear the throat or to draw attention, and it is essentially an emphatic, drawn-out version of the simpler exclamation 'hem'. English writers began spelling it out this way in the early eighteenth century, adding the opening 'a' to suggest the breathy run-up before the 'hem'. Because it stands for a noise rather than a concept, no Latin or Greek root lies behind it; the only logic to the spelling is the two-beat rhythm of the sound itself. That imitative origin is worth remembering, since the trap is simply deciding how many letters the cough deserves: just a-h-e-m.

How the word is built

• ahem (a single imitative interjection, not built from a prefix, root, or suffix; the spelling stretches the sound of a throat being cleared, a-HEM)