What does weem mean?
Weem is a chiefly Scottish noun for the red swelling or discoloration that extreme cold can produce on the skin. It commonly describes the marks left on the cheeks, fingers, or other exposed parts of the body after exposure to icy weather. The word belongs mainly to Scots and northern English usage, so it often carries a regional or literary character and may sound evocative or old-fashioned to speakers of standard English. Although it closely resembles the effect associated with a chilblain, weem emphasizes the visible swelling or discoloration caused by cold. The term is particularly associated with harsh northern weather and is uncommon in everyday modern English. Its specialized meaning and strong regional identity make it useful in dialect writing, historical description, and descriptions of cold environments where the ordinary word “chill” would be too general.
nounA red swelling or discoloration of the skin caused by exposure to cold, especially on the face, hands, or feet.
- A red swelling or discoloration of the skin caused by exposure to cold.
"The biting wind left a painful weem across her cheek."
"Frost left a bright weem on her cheek."
"He rubbed the weems on his fingers after coming in from the snow."
The regular plural is weems, though the word itself is uncommon outside regional or literary usage.
"Frost left painful weems on his fingers."
Cold leaves a calling card in Scots: the weem is the red, swollen mark that says the weather bit back.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of weem
Weem developed through Scots from Middle English weme, a word connected with Old English wǣme, meaning warmth or heat. Its Germanic relatives include German Wärme and Dutch warmte, which preserve the idea of warmth. In Scots and northern English, the sense developed to refer to the redness and swelling produced by exposure to cold.
Related word forms
How weem is actually used
This is a dialect word, chiefly Scots and northern English, that appears mainly in regional or literary writing rather than standard modern English.