em

Meanings

Noun

• A unit of measurement equal to the height of the type in use.

Interjection

• a form of hesitant speech, or an expression of uncertainty; um; umm; erm

Related

Similar words

• see Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns

Origin

• The typographic em is named after the metal type for the capital M in early printing, whose body was square (the printed letter M is almost never one em in width).
• Coined by Christine M. Elverson by removing the "th" from them, perhaps influenced by the pre-existing em/'em, now often perceived as apheretic forms of them (though originally unrelated).
• Compare um.