Meanings
nounchereme (plural cheremes)
plural cheremes · alternative cheireme
- sign linguisticsA basic unit of a sign language; equivalent to a phoneme.
Origin
- Ancient Greekχείρ“hand”
- Englishchereme
From Ancient Greek χείρ (kheír, “hand”) + -eme, by analogy with phoneme.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish kereemi
- kereemibasic unit of a sign language
Polish cherem
- cherembasic unit of a sign language
Portuguese querema
- queremabasic unit of a sign language
Russian хире́ма
- хире́ма (xiréma)basic unit of a sign language
Swedish kirem
- kirembasic unit of a sign language
Vietnamese hiệu vị
- hiệu vịbasic unit of a sign language
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
chereme. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chereme
MLA
“chereme.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chereme. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chereme,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chereme.
Source: chereme on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.