dim-sum
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
7 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "dim-sum", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "dim-sum" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "dim-sum" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
dim sum is aEnglishnoun. It means: A Cantonese-style meal traditionally eaten in the morning or early afternoon, comprising tea and food typically placed in small steamer baskets or on small plates, and often served from carts that ... Pronounced /ˈdɪm.ˈsʌm/.
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Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dim sum |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈdɪm.ˈsʌm/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dim sum is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdɪm.ˈsʌm/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for dim sum in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Cantonese 點心／点心 (dim² sam¹), literally “to touch the heart gently; to refresh the heart”. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is dim sum, spelled D-I-M- -S-U-M, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A Cantonese-style meal traditionally eaten in the morning or early afternoon, comprising tea and food typically placed in small steamer baskets or on small plates, and often served from carts that move around from table to table in a restaurant.
- 2The food served at a dim sum meal, typically including dumplings, seafood, and desserts.
Etymology
Borrowed from Cantonese 點心／点心 (dim² sam¹), literally “to touch the heart gently; to refresh the heart”.
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter D in our English index: