Hem

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /hɛm/

Definitions

1. The lower edge of a piece of clothing that is turned under and sewn to prevent fraying while also enhancing the garment's appearance
2. The turned-under edge of a textile that is sewn to stop the material from unraveling
3. A finished border on clothing or fabric created by folding and stitching the fabric's edge

Etymology: A hem is the folded and stitched edge that stops cloth from fraying, but the word's deeper story is about restraint. Its close relatives in Germanic languages carry the sense of confining or restraining: Middle High German "hemmen" and Old Norse "hemja" both mean to hem in. The verb "to hem in" keeps that sense most clearly, and it may come from the noun or develop alongside it. Beyond Germanic, the root has distant relatives. Armenian "kʻamel" means to press or wring, and Russian "kom" means lump, which suggests an older idea of gathering or pressing material together. The interjection for clearing the throat is a separate matter, an imitation of the sound itself.

Synonyms: border, edge, fringe, trim, seam