teem

/tiːm/

//tiːm// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"teem" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“teem” is uncommon English (frequency #87,898 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#87,898
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To be stocked to overflowing.

Corpus desk

Index EN-teem · teem · English

teem · rank #87,898 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #87,898
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH televangelist

Nearest frequency peer: televangelist (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “teem”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “teem” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for teem
PropertyValue
Headwordteem
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/tiːm/
Letters4
Frequency rank#87,898
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “teem” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).teemfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “televangelist” (#87,899), “Tethys” (#87,900), “tarsal” (#87,895). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “teem” is #87,898. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

teem is uncommon English at frequency #87,898 among 3,151 “T” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /tiːm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

teem has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English temen (“to bear, to support”), from Anglian Old English tēman (“to give birth”) (West Saxon Old English tīeman), from Proto-West Germanic *taumijan (“to bridle”), from Proto-Germanic *taumijaną, from *taumaz ("bridle", continued in Moder… The correct English form is teem, spelled T-E-E-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    To be stocked to overflowing.
  2. 2
    To be prolific; to abound; to be rife.
  3. 3
    To fall prolifically.
  4. 4
    To bring forth young, as an animal; to produce fruit, as a plant; to bear; to be pregnant; to conceive; to multiply.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how teem appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. But well he knew his teeming pangs were vain, Till Midwife Dryden eas’d his labouring Brain;
  2. his mind teeming with schemes of future deceit to cover former villainy

Etymology

From Middle English temen (“to bear, to support”), from Anglian Old English tēman (“to give birth”) (West Saxon Old English tīeman), from Proto-West Germanic *taumijan (“to bridle”), from Proto-Germanic *taumijaną, from *taumaz ("bridle", continued in Modern English as team).

Synonyms

swarm

This word in other languages

bullir(Español)grouiller(Français)überquellen(Deutsch)fervilhar(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "teem"?
"teem" is spelled T-E-E-M. The IPA pronunciation is /tiːm/.
What does "teem" mean?
As a verb, "teem" means: To be stocked to overflowing.
How do you pronounce "teem"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "teem" is /tiːm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "teem"?
From Middle English temen (“to bear, to support”), from Anglian Old English tēman (“to give birth”) (West Saxon Old English tīeman), from Proto-West Germanic *taumijan (“to bridle”), from Proto-Germanic *taumijaną, from *taumaz ("bridle", continue... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "teem", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

trie#87,923str8#87,868tufa#87,929sloe#87,840

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list