# dim
## Translingual
### Symbol

dim
* (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Dime.
* (mathematics) dimension
* (music, popular music notation) diminished chord
    A C$^{dim}$ chord is composed of C–E$^♭$-G$^♭$.

### See also

* Wiktionary's coverage of Dime terms

## English
### Pronunciation

* enPR: dĭm, IPA: /dɪm/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɪm

### Etymology 1

From Middle English dim, dym, from Old English dim, dimm (“dim, dark, gloomy; wretched, grievous, sad, unhappy”), from Proto-West Germanic *dimm, from Proto-Germanic *dimmaz (“dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰem- (“to whisk, smoke; obscure”). Compare Faroese dimmur (“dark”), Icelandic dimmur (“dark”) and dimma (“darkness”).

#### Adjective

dim (comparative dimmer, superlative dimmest)
* Not bright or colorful.
    Synonyms: dull, dingy; see also Thesaurus:dim
    The lighting was too dim for me to make out his facial features.
** 1821, Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, […], Pisa, Italy: […] Didot; reprinted London: Noel Douglas […], 1927, →OCLC:that sustaining Love / Which, through the web of being blindly wove / By man and beast and earth and air and sea, / Burns bright or dim
* (colloquial) Not smart or intelligent.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:stupid
    He may be a bit dim, but he's not entirely stupid.
* Indistinct, hazy or unclear.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:indistinct
    His vision grew dimmer as he aged.
* Disapproving, unfavorable: rarely used outside the phrase take a dim view of.
    Synonyms: deprecative, improbatory, reprobative, reprobatory

##### Derived terms

* dim and distant
* dimbo
* dim bulb
* dim-headed
* dim-lit
* dimly
* dimmish
* dimmity
* dimmy
* dim-sighted
* dimsome
* dimwit
* dim-witted → dim-wittedness
* nice-but-dim

##### Translations

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

#### Noun

dim (uncountable)
* (archaic) Dimness.
** 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 278:All about me the Red Weed clambered among the ruins, writhing to get above me in the dim. Night, the Mother of Fear and Mystery, was coming upon me.

#### Verb

dim (third-person singular simple present dims, present participle dimming, simple past and past participle dimmed)
* (transitive) To make something less bright.
    He dimmed the lights and put on soft music.
* (intransitive) To become darker.
    The lights dimmed briefly when the air conditioning was turned on.
* To render dim, obscure, or dark; to make less bright or distinct.
** 1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC:a king among his courtiers, […] who out to dim the lustre of all his attendants
** 1791, Homer, “[The Odyssey.] Book II.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 42, line 501:Now ſet the ſun, and twilight dimm'd the ways, […]
* To deprive of distinct vision; to hinder from seeing clearly, either by dazzling or clouding the eyes; to darken the senses or understanding of.
** 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 II, scene iii:And with our Sun-bright armour as we march, Weel chaſe the Starrs from heauen, and dim their eies That ſtand and muſe at our admyred armes.
** 1740, Christopher Pitt, The Aeneid:Her starry eyes were dimm'd with streaming tears.
* (figurative) To diminish, dull, or curtail.
    All these setbacks had started to dim the hopes of the students.
    Nothing will dim their spirit of resilience.
    A glut might dim the outlook for grain futures.

##### Derived terms

* autodimming
* bedim
* dimmable
* dimmer (noun)
* fordim
* nondimmable
* undimmable
* undimmed
* undimming

##### Translations
#### See also

* dim mak (etymologically unrelated)
* dim sum (etymologically unrelated)

### Etymology 2
#### Adjective

dim (not comparable)
* (music) Clipping of diminished.

#### See also

* dim. (diminuendo)

### Anagrams

* IMD, IDM, Mid., MID, mid, 'mid, mid-, DMI, MDI, IM'd

## Galician
### Verb

dim
* (reintegrationist norm) third-person plural present indicative of dizer

## Indonesian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈdɪm]
* Hyphenation: dim

### Etymology 1

From Dutch duim.

#### Noun

dim (plural dim-dim)
* thumb
* inch
    Synonym: inci

### Etymology 2

From English dimmer.

#### Noun

dim (plural dim-dim)
* high-beam headlamp on a road vehicle.

### Further reading

* “dim” 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.

## Kashubian
### Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *dymъ.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈdim/
* Rhymes: -im
* Syllabification: dim

### Noun

dim m inan
* smoke

### Further reading

* Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011) “dym”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎
* “dim”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

## Latvian
### Verb

dim
* third-person singular/plural present indicative of dimēt
* (with the particle lai) third-person singular imperative of dimēt
* (with the particle lai) third-person plural imperative of dimēt

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From Old Norse dimmr. Related to English dim and Icelandic dimmur.

### Adjective

dim (neuter singular dimt, definite singular and plural dimme, comparative dimmere, indefinite superlative dimmest, definite superlative dimmeste)
* dim
* to have bad vision
    Han er dim på synet
       His vision is dim/bad/poor

### References

* “dim” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology 1

From the Old Norse adjective dimmr, from Proto-Germanic *dimmaz. The neuter noun is derived from the adjective. The automotive senses may be a Back-formation of of the verb dimme.

#### Adjective

dim (neuter singular dimt, definite singular and plural dimme, comparative dimmare, indefinite superlative dimmast, definite superlative dimmaste)
* gloomy
* dim
* having bad vision
    Han er dim på synet
       His vision is dim/bad/poor

##### Related terms

* dimma, dimme (verb)

#### Noun

dim m (definite singular dimmen, indefinite plural dimmar, definite plural dimmane)
* (automotive, colloquial) a switching of one's headlamps from high-beam to low-beam
* (automotive, colloquial) lever, button or other
* (dialectal) Clipping of dimme (“twilight, half darkness”).

#### Noun

dim n (definite singular dimmet, uncountable)
* (dialectal) dimmest, darkest part of the summer night
* (dialectal) twilight
    Synonym: skumring

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

dim m (definite singular dimmen, indefinite plural dimmar, definite plural dimmane)
* (colloquial) Clipping of dimensjon.

### References

* “dim” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

### Anagrams

* mid-

## Old English
### Adjective

dim
* Alternative form of dimm

## Serbo-Croatian
### Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *dymъ, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *dū́ˀmas, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰuh₂mós.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dîm/

### Noun

dȉm m (Cyrillic spelling ди̏м)
* smoke

#### Derived terms

* dimni signal

## Slovene
### Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *dymъ.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dím/

### Noun

dȉm m inan
* smoke

#### Inflection
### Further reading

* “dim”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025

## Sumerian
### Romanization

dim
* Romanization of 𒁴 (dim)

## Sundanese
### Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch duim.

### Noun

dim
* inch

### References

* Coolsma, S (1913) Soendaneesch-Hollandsch Woordenboek (in Dutch), Leiden: A.W. Sijthoff's Uitgeversmaatschappij

## Talysh
### Noun

dim
* face

## Welsh
### Etymology

From Middle Welsh dim, cognate with the rare Old Irish dim (“something, anything”) (which may be a Brythonic loanword), with further etymology uncertain. Matasović derives the word from Proto-Celtic *dis-smi-, dissimilated from Proto-Indo-European *dus-smi- (literally “bad one”). Alternatively, Morris-Jones hypothesizes the original meaning was “share, portion” and derives the word from Proto-Celtic *dīsman, from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y- (“to share”).
Development of the particle sense (“not”) is an instance of Jespersen's Cycle.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dɪm/
* Rhymes: -ɪm

### Adjective

dim
* any
* no, not, none

### Pronoun

dim
* (in negative phrases) nothing, anything
    Synonym: dim byd
* none, nil, zero

#### Derived terms

* dim byd (“nothing”)
* dim ond (“only”)
* da i ddim (“good for nothing, useless”)
* dim o beth (“pipsqueak, knee-high to a grasshopper”)

#### Related terms

* be', beth (“what”)
* pob dim, popeth (“everything”)
* rhywbeth (“something”)
* unrhyw beth (“anything”)

### Particle

dim
* not

#### Usage notes

As a verbal particle, almost always appears mutated as ddim.

#### Synonyms

* ni (“not”) (literary)

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### References

* ↑ Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 100
* ↑ Morris Jones, John (1913) A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 315
* ↑ Borsley, Robert D., Tallerman, Maggie, Willis, David (2007 October 18) The Syntax of Welsh, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 311

### Further reading

* R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “dim”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies