English - Etymology

From Middle English comen, cumen, from Old English coman, cuman (“to come, go, happen”), from Proto-Germanic *kwemaną (“to come”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem-, *gʷém-, *gʷem-ye- (“to come, go, be born”).

English - Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kʌm/, [kʰɐm], enPR: kŭm
• (US) IPA^(key): /kʌm/, [kʰʌm], enPR: kŭm
• Rhymes: -ʌm
• Homophone: cum

English - Verb

come (third-person singular simple present comes, present participle coming, simple past came, past participle come or comen)

1. (intransitive) To move from further away to nearer to.

   She’ll be coming ’round the mountain when she comes […]

   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     Look, who comes yonder?

   • Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

     I did not come to curse thee.

   1. To move towards the speaker.

      I called the dog, but she wouldn't come.

      Stop dawdling and come here!

   2. To move towards the listener.

      Hold on, I'll come in a second.

      You should ask the doctor to come to your house.

   3. To move towards the object that is the focus of the sentence.

      No-one can find Bertie Wooster when his aunts come to visit.

      Hundreds of thousands of people come to Disneyland every year.

   4. (in subordinate clauses and gerunds) To move towards the agent or subject of the main clause.

      King Cnut couldn't stop the tide coming.

      He threw the boomerang, which came right back to him.

   5. To move towards an unstated agent.

      The butler should come when called.

2. (intransitive) To arrive.

   The guests came at eight o'clock.

3. (intransitive) To appear, to manifest itself.

   The pain in his leg comes and goes.

   • Samuel Butler (1613-1680), Hudibras

     when butter does refuse to come [i.e. to form]

4. (intransitive) To take a position to something else in a sequence.

   Which letter comes before Y?   Winter comes after autumn.

5. (intransitive, slang) To achieve orgasm; to cum.

   He came after a few minutes.

6. (copulative, figuratively, with close) To approach a state of being or accomplishment.

   They came very close to leaving on time.   His test scores came close to perfect.

   One of the screws came loose, and the skateboard fell apart.

7. (figuratively, with to) To take a particular approach or point of view in regard to something.

   He came to SF literature a confirmed technophile, and nothing made him happier than to read a manuscript thick with imaginary gizmos and whatzits.

8. (copulative, archaic) To become, to turn out to be.

   He was a dream come true.

   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     How come you thus estranged?

9. (intransitive) To be supplied, or made available; to exist.

   He's as tough as they come.   Our milkshakes come in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate flavours.

10. (slang) To carry through; to succeed in.

    You can't come any tricks here.

11. (intransitive) Happen.

    This kind of accident comes when you are careless.

12. (intransitive, with from or sometimes of) To have a social background.
    1. To be or have been a resident or native.

       Where did you come from?

    2. To have been brought up by or employed by.

       She comes from a good family.

       He comes from a disreputable legal firm.

13. (intransitive, of grain) To germinate.

Usage notes

In its general sense, come specifically marks motion towards the deictic centre (whether explicitly stated or not). Its counterpart, usually referring to motion away from or not involving the deictic centre, is go. For example, the sentence "Come to the tree" implies contextually that the speaker is already at the tree - "Go to the tree" often implies that the speaker is elsewhere. Either the speaker or the listener can be the deictic centre - the sentences "I will go to you" and "I will come to you" are both valid, depending on the exact nuances of the context. When there is no clear speaker or listener, the deictic centre is usually the focus of the sentence or the topic of the piece

English - Noun

come (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Coming, arrival; approach.
   • 1869, RD Blackmoore, Lorna Doone, II:

     “If we count three before the come of thee, thwacked thou art, and must go to the women.”

2. (slang) Semen, or female ejaculatory discharge.

See also

• cum

English - Preposition

come

1. Used to indicate an event, period, or change in state occurring after a present time.

   Leave it to settle for about three months and, come Christmas time, you'll have a delicious concoctions to offer your guests.

   Come retirement, their Social Security may turn out to be a lot less than they counted on.

   • Come the final whistle, Mikel Arteta lay flabbergasted on the turf.

Usage notes

• Came is often used when both the indicated event, period or change in state occurred in the past.

English - Interjection

come

1. An exclamation to express annoyance.

   Come come! Stop crying.  Come now! You must eat it.

2. An exclamation to express encouragement, or to precede a request.

   Come come! You can do it.  Come now! It won't bite you.

   • 1908, W. B. M. Ferguson, Zollenstein, chapterI:

     “I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.

English - References

1. ^ Chicago Dialect

Asturian - Verb

come

1. third-person singular present indicative of comer

Galician - Verb

come

1. third-person singular present indicative of comer
2. second-person singular imperative of comer

Italian - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkome]

Italian - Etymology

From Latin quomodo + et. Cognate to French comme. See also Spanish como/cómo and Catalan com.

Italian - Adverb

come

1. how

   Come stai? (informal)

   How are you?

   Come sta? (formal)

   How are you?

2. as, like

   Blu come il mare,

   As blue as the sea.

3. such as

Derived terms

• come mai
• come no
• come se

Italian - Conjunction

come

1. as soon as

   Come arrivò... - As soon as he arrived...

Derived terms

• come non detto

Italian - Anagrams

• meco

Latin - Adjective

cōme

1. nominative neuter singular of cōmis
2. accusative neuter singular of cōmis
3. vocative neuter singular of cōmis

Portuguese - Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: co‧me

Portuguese - Verb

come

1. Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você^?) present indicative of comer
2. Second-person singular (tu) affirmative imperative of comer

Spanish - Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkome/

Spanish - Verb

come

1. third-person singular present indicative of comer
2. second-person singular present imperative of comer

قافية