Hum

Podcast 1 · Introduction

Hum

A documentary-style narration: origin, meaning, and feel.

Part of speech

verb and noun

Pronunciation

hum  /hʌm/

Definition

As a verb: to make a low, steady continuous sound; to sing with closed lips; to be in a state of busy activity; (British informal) to smell unpleasant. As a noun: a low, steady continuous sound; a state of activity or excitement; (British informal) an unpleasant smell.

Plain meaning

To hum is to make a low continuous sound with your lips closed — the sound you make when you know a tune but don't sing the words. A hum is also any low steady continuous sound: the hum of traffic, the hum of a refrigerator. To say a place is humming means it is busy and active. In British informal English, to hum also means to smell bad.

Register

Neutral in its primary senses; informal in the busy-activity sense; British informal in the smelling sense. Hum and haw (or hem and haw) — to hesitate or be indecisive — is an idiom derived from the humming vocalization of someone unable to decide what to say.