stammer

stammer

See also: Stammer and stämmer

English

Etymology

From Middle English stameren, from Old English stamerian, from Proto-West Germanic *stamrōn, from Proto-Germanic *stamrōną (“to stammer”). Compare German stammeln, Dutch stameren, Old Norse stammr. Doublet of stumble.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈstæmə/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈstæmɚ/
• Rhymes: -æmə(ɹ)

Verb

stammer (third-person singular simple present stammers, present participle stammering, simple past and past participle stammered)

1. (intransitive) To keep repeating a particular sound involuntarily during speech.
2. (transitive) To utter with a stammer, or with timid hesitancy.

   He blushed, and stammered a few words of apology.

   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xi:

     The high school had a send-off in my honour. It was an uncommon thing for a young man of Rajkot to go to England. I had written out a few words of thanks. But I could scarcely stammer them out. I remember how my head reeled and how my whole frame shook as I stood up to read them.

Synonyms

• stutter

Translations

to stutter

Albanian: belbëzoj (sq) Arabic: تَلَجْلَجَ‎ (talajlaja), تَلَعْثَمَ‎ (talaʿṯama) Egyptian Arabic: لدغ‎ (ladaḡ) Armenian: կակազել (hy) (kakazel), թլվատել (hy) (tʿlvatel) Asturian: tartayar, tatexar, atartayar Azerbaijani: kəkələmək (az), pəltəkləmək Belarusian: заіка́цца impf (zaikácca) Bulgarian: заеквам (bg) impf (zaekvam) Burmese: ဆွံ့ (my) (hcwam.) Catalan: quequejar (ca), tartamudejar (ca), titubar (ca), titubejar (ca) Cebuano: kanga Chinese: Mandarin: 口吃 (zh) (kǒuchī), 結巴／结巴 (zh) (jiēbā), 磕巴 (kēbā), 漏口 (lòukǒu), 吶吶／呐呐 (zh) (nànà), 吞吐 (zh) (tūntǔ) Crimean Tatar: tutuqlanmaq Czech: koktat (cs) impf, zajíkat se impf Danish: stamme Dutch: stotteren (nl), hakkelen (nl) Elfdalian: stotå Esperanto: balbuti Estonian: kogelema Faroese: stama Finnish: änkyttää (fi), takellella (fi) French: balbutier (fr), bégayer (fr) Galician: tatexar (gl) Georgian: ბლუ (blu) German: stammeln (de), stottern (de) Greek: τραυλίζω (el) (travlízo) Ancient: βατταλογέω (battalogéō) Greenlandic: ittoqerpoq Hebrew: גמגם‎ (he) (gimgém) Higaonon: tagkangakanga Hindi: हकलाना (hi) (haklānā), लड़खड़ाना (hi) (laṛakhṛānā), हँकलाना (hi) (hãklānā), हिकलाना (hi) (hiklānā) Hungarian: dadog (hu), hebeg (hu) Icelandic: stama Ido: balbutar (io) Irish: beith ag stadaireacht Italian: balbettare (it), tartagliare (it) Japanese: 吃る (どもる, domoru) Kabuverdianu: gagixa Kazakh: кекештену (kekeştenu), тұтығу (tūtyğu) Khmer: ជាប់អណ្ដាត (coap ɑndaat), និយាយជាប់អណ្ដាត (ni’yiey coap ɑndaat) Korean: 더듬다 (ko) (deodeumda), 말을 더듬다 (mareul deodeumda) Kyrgyz: кекечтенүү (kekeçtenüü) Lao: ພ່ຳ (pham), ປາກພ່ຳ (pāk pham), ປາກບໍ່ຖອງ (pāk bǭ thǭng) Ladin: chechenië, cuchenië, cocogné Latin: balbutiō, friguttiō Latvian: stostīties Lithuanian: mikčioti Luxembourgish: tuddelen Macedonian: пелтечи impf (pelteči), д’тка impf (d’tka) (non-standard) Maori: mamamama, kikikiki, kīkiki Mingrelian: ბურდინა (burdina) Mongolian: ээрэх (mn) (eerex) Neapolitan: cacaglià Norman: aheuqu'ter, bégaûder Northern Sami: vavdat, vavddadit Norwegian: Bokmål: stamme (no) Nynorsk: stamma Osage: ðéeze opásike Polish: jąkać się (pl) impf Portuguese: gaguejar (pt) Quechua: aklluykachay, aklluy, hanllay Romanian: bâlbâi (ro) Romansch: balbegiar Russian: заика́ться (ru) impf (zaikátʹsja), запина́ться (ru) impf (zapinátʹsja) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: муцати impf Roman: mucati (sh) impf Slovak: koktať impf, zajakať sa Slovene: jecljati impf Sorbian: Upper Sorbian: jakotać Spanish: tartamudear (es), balbucir (es), balbucear (es), gaguear (es) (Latin America) Swahili: gugumiza Swedish: stamma (sv) Tajik: сақав шуда мондан (saqav šuda mondan), лакнати забон доштан (laknati zabon doštan) Thai: ติดอ่าง (th) (dtìt-àang), อ่าง (th) (àang) Turkish: kekelemek (tr), pepelemek (tr) Turkmen: sakynmak, sakawlamak, kekeçlemek Ukrainian: заїка́тися impf (zajikátysja), затина́тися impf (zatynátysja) Uzbek: duduqlanmoq (uz) Vietnamese: nói lắp (vi), vấp lưỡi, cà lăm (vi) Welsh: cecian (cy), dydio West Frisian: stammerje Yiddish: שטאַמלען‎ (shtamlen) Zazaki: kekezeyen

Noun

stammer (plural stammers)

1. The involuntary repetition of a sound in speech.

   She said goodbye in a stammer.

2. A speech defect whereby someone speaks with a stammer

Translations

involuntary repetition of sounds in speech — See also translations at stuttering,‎ stammering,‎ stutter#Noun

Albanian: belbëzim (sq) Bulgarian: заекване n (zaekvane) Chinese: Mandarin: 口吃 (zh) (kǒuchī) Finnish: änkytys (fi), takeltelu French: bégaiement (fr) m German: Stottern (de) n Greek: τραύλισμα (el) n (trávlisma), τραυλισμός (el) m (travlismós) Hebrew: גמגום‎ (he) (gimgum) Hindi: हकलाहट (hi) f (haklāhaṭ), हकलापन (hi) m (haklāpan) Irish: maolteanga f, stad m, snag m Italian: balbettio Japanese: 吃り (どもり, domori) Kabuverdianu: gagixa Korean: 더듬기 (deodeumgi) Polish: jąkanie (pl) n Portuguese: gaguejo (pt) m Punjabi: ਥਥਲਾਉਣਾ (pa) (thathlāuṇā) Romanian: Balbism Russian: заика́ние (ru) n (zaikánije) Sanskrit: कण्ठभङ्ग (sa) m (kaṇṭhabhaṅga) Slovak: koktanie n Slovene: jecljanje n Spanish: tartamudeo (es) m Swahili: kigugumizi (sw) Swedish: stamning c Telugu: నత్తి (te) (natti) Turkish: kekeleme (tr) Ukrainian: заїкання n (zajikannja) Welsh: atal dweud (cy) m

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “stammer”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• stremma

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Danish

Noun

stammer c

1. indefinite plural of stamme

Verb

stammer

1. present of stamme

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Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

stammer m

1. indefinite plural of stamme

Verb

stammer

1. present tense of stamme

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• stammar

Noun

stammer m or f

1. indefinite feminine plural of stamme