kém

See also: Appendix:Variations of "kem"

Hungarian

Etymology

Of unknown origin.[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [ˈkeːm]
  • Hyphenation: kém
  • Rhymes: -eːm

Noun

kém (plural kémek)

  1. (rare, poetic, archaic, now only in derivations and some compounds) spotter, watcher, scout (a person who [secretly] watches someone or ferrets something out) [1372—19th century]
  2. spy [from 1527]
    Synonym: spion

Declension

Lua error: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

Possessive forms of kém
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. kémem kémeim
2nd person sing. kémed kémeid
3rd person sing. kéme kémei
1st person plural kémünk kémeink
2nd person plural kémetek kémeitek
3rd person plural kémük kémeik

Derived terms
Compound words from the archaic sense ’spotter, scout’
Compound words from the sense ’spy’

See also
  • besúgó
  • felderítő
  • hírszerző
  • titkos ügynök

References
  1. kém in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN.  (See also its 2nd edition.)

Further reading
  • kém in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Vietnamese

Etymology

Probably non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 減 (SV: giảm).

Pronunciation
  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [kɛm˧˦]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [kɛm˦˧˥]
  • (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [kɛm˦˥]
  • Audio (Ho Chi Minh City)(file)

Adjective

kém

  1. less; lesser
  2. bad (at doing something)
    kém may mắn ― unlucky

Preposition

kém

  1. (time) preceding
    ba giờ kém mười ― ten to three o'clock-2:50

See also
Derived terms
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