| HN Mirror

Y	Hacker News new \| ask \| show \| jobs


	by froh 14 days ago
	non native speaker here - I don't get it.

3 comments

It's an old English word (predating the sexual connotation):

cum - Used in indicating a thing or person which has two or more roles, functions, or natures, or which has changed from one to another.

Basically nobody uses that language construct anymore until you run headlong into it in a Hackernews comment or something

I use it, but you're supposed to hyphenate on both sides so this usage was incorrect.

thank you! this was most helpful to lead me into asking the right question.

“cum” (rhymes with “broom”, rather than “dumb”) is Latin for “with”.

that's when it appears cum "laude" (eg)

in commonwealth (seniors in everyday UK, HR and pedants otherwise) usage it rhymes with dumb, like you'd expect

Radcliff-cum-Chackmore

No it isn't. It's Latin.

only the ethymology is latin. the use combining role names is old English, indeed.

'cum' is latin for 'with', and it is commonly hyphenated when inserted in between other words.

It's also a slang word for semen, but that's not relevant here.

I suspect they mean "with" but in latin. But I'm not entirely sure.

That's correct