Cume

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An old dialect or archaic verb meaning to arrive, approach, or make one's way toward a place
2. A rare obsolete verb for coming, arriving, or drawing near to someone or something
3. Archaic verb expressing the act of coming toward a place or reaching a particular point

Etymology: "Cume" is an English noun meaning the act of arriving, and it is an unusual one: it is a rare word that is generally treated as a back-formation from "cumulative," with the word "cumulate" offering a parallel. A back-formation is a word created by cutting an apparent suffix off an existing word, so the reasoning runs in reverse of how most English words are built. Here the supposed ending "-ulative" is dropped, leaving the short form "cume" behind. The source word, "cumulative," comes from Latin "cumulare," meaning to heap up or pile up. That sense of accumulation is what the family carries: things gathering in a heap rather than arriving one at a time. The short form's meaning of arriving therefore sits a little oddly against its heaping ancestry, which is worth keeping in mind when reading the word.