# term
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tûm, IPA: /tɜːm/
* (US) enPR: tûrm, IPA: /tɝm/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)m

### Etymology 1

From Middle English terme, borrowed from Old French terme, from Latin terminus (“a bound, boundary, limit, end; in Medieval Latin, also a time, period, word, covenant, etc.”).
Doublet of terminus and termon. Old English had termen, from the same source.

#### Noun

term (plural terms)
* That which limits the extent of anything; limit, extremity, bound, boundary, terminus.
** 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:Corruption is a reciprocal to generation, and they two are as nature's two terms, or boundaries.
** 1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 268:At the decline of day, Winding above the mountain’s snowy term, New banners shone: […]
    "Alright, look...we can spend the holidays with your parents, but this time it will be on my terms."
* A chronological limitation or restriction, a limited timespan.
    The term of a lease agreement is the period of time during which the lease is effective, and may be fixed, periodic, or of indefinite duration.
* Any of the binding conditions or promises in a legal contract.
    Be sure to read the terms and conditions before signing.
* Specifically, the conditions in a legal contract that specify the price and also how and when payment must be made.
    Q: What are your company's terms? A: Net thirty, cash or check. [This answer means that the net total must be paid within 30 days; see Net D.]
    The latest models are available now, on the lowest terms you'll find anywhere, guaranteed.
** 1793 May 17, John Constable and James Piper, advertisement for a packet-boat between Chestertown and Baltimore, Chestertown, Maryland, File:Packet_Schooner.jpg:
    The Cabin is large and commodious, well calculated for the Accommodation of Paſengers. Merchandiſe, Produce, &c. carried on the loweſt Terms.
* (geometry, archaic) A point, line, or superficies that limits.
    A line is the term of a superficies, and a superficies is the term of a solid.
* A word or phrase (e.g., noun phrase, verb phrase, open compound), especially one from a specialised area of knowledge; a name for a concept.
    "Algorithm" is a term used in computer science.
    The noun phrase "red blood cell", the acronym "RBC", and the word "erythrocyte" are synonymous terms.
* Relations among people.
    We are on friendly terms with each other.
** 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 361:Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. […] Next day she […] tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and perhaps had spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.
* Part of a year, especially one of the divisions of an academic year.
* Duration of officeholding, or its limit; period in office of fixed length.
    He was sentenced to a term of six years in prison.
    near-term, mid-term and long-term goals
    the term allowed to a debtor to discharge his debt
** 2023 October 22, Ruth Michaelson, quoting Ehud Barak, “Netanyahu told to ‘quit now’ as ex-leaders pin blame on dysfunctional government”, in The Observer‎, →ISSN:“I don’t believe that the people trust Netanyahu to lead when he is under the burden of such a devastating event that just happened under his term,” he told the Observer.
** The time during which legal courts are open.
** Certain days on which rent is paid.
* With respect to a pregnancy, the usual duration of gestation for the given species (for example, nine months in humans); (metonymically) the end of this duration: the timepoint at which birth usually happens (for example, in humans, approximately 40 weeks from conception), defining the due date.
    at term;   preterm;   postterm
* (of a patent) The maximum period during which the patent can be maintained into force.
* (archaic) A menstrual period.
** 1660, Samuel Pepys, Diary:My wife, after the absence of her terms for seven weeks, gave me hopes of her being with child, but on the last day of the year she hath them again.
* (mathematics) Any value (variable or constant) or expression separated from another term by a space or an appropriate character, in an overall expression or table.
    All the terms of this sum cancel out.
    One only term is odd in ( 12; 3; 4 ).
* (logic) The subject or the predicate of a proposition; one of the three component parts of a syllogism, each one of which is used twice.
** 1859–1860, William Hamilton, edited by H[enry] L[ongueville] Mansel and John Veitch, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:The subject and predicate of a proposition are, after Aristotle, together called its terms or extremes.
* (astrology) An essential dignity in which unequal segments of every astrological sign have internal rulerships which affect the power and integrity of each planet in a natal chart.
* (art) A statue of the upper body, sometimes without the arms, ending in a pillar or pedestal. [from 17th c.]
** c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:The pillers that haue bolſtered vp thoſe tearmes, Are falne in cluſters at my conquering feet.
** 1773, Joshua Reynolds, edited by John Ingamells and John Edgcumbe, The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Yale, published 2000, page 42:You have been already informed, I have no doubt, of the subject which we have chosen: the adorning a Term of Hymen with festoons of flowers.
* (nautical) A piece of carved work placed under each end of the taffrail.

##### Hyponyms

* blanket term
* collective term
* umbrella term
* (part of a year): trimester, semester, quarter

##### Derived terms

* absolute term
* abstract term
* at term
* authorised term
* authorized term
* boundary term
* come to terms
* common term
* concrete term
* coordinate term
* cosmological term
* cross term
* decreasing term assurance
* defined term
* Easter term
* fixed-term
* fixed-term contract
* full term
* generic term
* Gibbons-Hawking-York boundary term
* half-term
* half term
* Hilary term
* INCO term
* increasing term assurance
* index term
* inkhorn term
* in the long term
* in the short term
* January term
* J-term
* keep term
* lambda term
* late-term
* Lent term
* level term assurance
* loan term
* long-term
* long term
* long term evolution
* long-term memory
* long-term potentiation
* Long Vacation term
* Long Vac term
* major term
* medium-term
* Michaelmas term
* middle term
* mid-term
* midterm
* mid-term break
* minor term
* near-term
* near term
* on long-term sick
* protected term
* representation term
* rule of the shorter term
* search term
* short-term
* short term
* short-term memory
* skunked term
* solar term
* technical term
* term assurance
* term day
* term deposit
* term investment
* term limit
* term-limit
* term loan
* term logic
* term of address
* term of art
* term of endearment
* term of notice
* term of venery
* term of years
* term of years absolute
* term of years determinable
* term out
* term paper
* term phrase
* terms and conditions
* term sheet
* term time
* term-trotter
* time term
* trade term
* Trinity term
* unauthorised term
* unauthorized term

##### Related terms

* terminal
* terminate
* terminographer
* terminography
* terminologic
* terminological
* terminologically
* terminology

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

##### See also

* idiom
* lexeme
* lexical item
* lexicalization
* listeme

#### Verb

term (third-person singular simple present terms, present participle terming, simple past and past participle termed)
* (transitive) To phrase a certain way; to name or call.
** 1867, Charles Sanders Peirce, On a New List of Categories:Abstraction or prescision ought to be carefully distinguished from two other modes of mental separation, which may be termed discrimination and dissociation.
** 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.

##### Synonyms

* describe as, designate, dub, name, refer to; see also Thesaurus:denominate

#### Adjective

term (not comparable)
* (medicine, colloquial) Born or delivered at term.
    term neonate

#### References

* term on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Etymology 2

Clipping of terminal.

#### Noun

term (plural terms)
* (computing, informal) A computer program that emulates a physical terminal.

### Etymology 3

Short for terminate, termination, terminated employee, etc.

#### Verb

term (third-person singular simple present terms, present participle terming, simple past and past participle termed)
* (ambitransitive) To terminate one's employment

##### Synonyms

* axe, fire, sack; see also Thesaurus:lay off

#### Noun

term (plural terms)
* One whose employment has been terminated

### Further reading

* “term”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “term”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

## Albanian
### Etymology

From ter.

### Noun

term m (plural terma, definite terma, definite plural termat)
* foundation, plot of land

#### Related terms

* ter

## Chinese
### Pronunciation

* Cantonese (Jyutping): toem$^1$
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: toem$^1$
*** Sinological IPA : /tʰœːm⁵⁵/

### Etymology 1

From English term.

#### Noun

term
* (Hong Kong Cantonese) term (word or phrase)
* (Hong Kong Cantonese) term (timespan)

### Etymology 2

From clipping of English terminate.

#### Verb

term
* (Hong Kong Cantonese) to terminate
* (Hong Kong Cantonese, university slang, passive voice) to have one's study be terminated

### References

* English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

## Dutch
### Etymology

From Middle Dutch term, from Old French terme, from Latin terminus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tɛrm/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: term
* Rhymes: -ɛrm

### Noun

term m (plural termen, diminutive termpje n)
* term; A word or phrase, especially one from a specialised area of knowledge
* (mathematics) term; One of the addends in a sum

#### Derived terms

* krachtterm
* termsgewijs

#### Related terms

* termijn
* terminaal

#### Descendants

* → Indonesian: term

### Anagrams

* remt

## Indonesian
### Etymology

From Dutch term, from French terme, from Old French terme, from Latin terminus (“a bound, boundary, limit, end; in Medieval Latin, also a time, period, word, covenant, etc.”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈtɛr(ə̆)m]
* Hyphenation: tèrm

### Noun

tèrm (plural term-term)
* term:
** a word or phrase, especially one from a specialised area of knowledge.
    Synonym: istilah
** (logic) the subject or the predicate of a proposition; one of the three component parts of a syllogism, each one of which is used twice.
** duration of a set length; period in office of fixed length.
    Synonyms: masa, momen, saat
** part of a year, especially one of the three parts of an academic year.

#### Alternative forms

* terma (Standard Malay)

#### Related terms

* termin
* terminal
* terminasi
* terminologi

### Further reading

* “term” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From Latin terminus, via French terme and English term.

### Noun

term m (definite singular termen, indefinite plural termer, definite plural termene)
* a term (word or phrase)

### References

* “term” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From Latin terminus, via French terme and English term.

### Noun

term m (definite singular termen, indefinite plural termar, definite plural termane)
* a term (word or phrase)

### References

* “term” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Swedish
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

term c
* a term (a well-defined word or phrase, in a terminology)
* (mathematics) a term (an operand in addition or subtraction)
* singular of termer (“thermae, Roman baths”) (a facility for bathing in ancient Rome)

#### Related terms

* fackterm
* termbank
* terminologi

### References

* ↑ term in Rikstermbanken
* ↑ term in Rikstermbanken