Seem

How to spell seem

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce seem

What does seem mean?

1. verbTo give the impression or appearance of being something, without that necessarily being the case.

Seem in a sentence

• The new manager does seem confident in meetings.

• Things seem calmer at the office since the reorganisation.

Where does seem come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

This little word travelled into English from Old Norse, brought by Scandinavian settlers in the early medieval period. The source was the verb sœma, which meant 'to honour, to befit, or to conform to', built on the adjective sōmr, meaning 'fitting' or 'suitable'. In its earliest English use it carried that older flavour of being proper or becoming, which is why we still have the related adjective 'seemly' for behaviour that is decent and appropriate. Over time the everyday meaning drifted from 'to be fitting' to 'to appear or give the impression of being', so that today we use it to describe how things look rather than whether they are proper. The spelling trap is simple but stubborn: it sounds exactly like 'seam', the line where two pieces of cloth are joined, yet the two words are unrelated in origin and must be kept apart on the page.

How the word is built

• seem (whole root verb, from Old Norse sœma 'to befit, conform to'); related to the adjective 'seemly'

Words that sound like seem

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• seam: The line along which two pieces of fabric or material are sewn or joined together.