Standard Lemma guide

umpteen

det · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈʌmp.tiːn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːn
  • CMU ARPABET: AH1 M P T IY1 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

det

Meaning 1

Relatively large but unspecified in number.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal

Qualifier: often slightly derogatory

Examples

  • She's taking umpteen friends with her to the party.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

innumerable but many

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: umteen

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From ump (“a colloquial name for the dash "—" in Morse code”) + -teen. Unrelated to ump as in umpire, and simply a mnemonic rhyming aid.

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: عشرميه (ʕošroméyya) — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Bulgarian: безброй (bezbroj) — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Czech: spousty — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Czech: moře — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Czech: halda — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Czech: hromada — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Czech: fůra — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Czech: hafo — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Czech: spousta — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Dutch: tig — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Esperanto: multnombra — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Finnish: toistakymmentä — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • French: trente-six — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • French: trente-six mille — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • French: trente-six-mille — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • German: zig — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Hungarian: kismillió — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Hungarian: egy rakás — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Hungarian: csillió — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Manx: dy liooar — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Māori: tuauriuri — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Norwegian: ørten — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Portuguese: um bocado de — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Portuguese: um monte de — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Portuguese: inúmeros — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Romanian: enșpe — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Russian: надцать (nadcatʹ) — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Russian: бесчисленно (besčislenno) — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Spanish: una multitud de — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Spanish: un montón de — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Spanish: tropecientos — Relatively large but unspecified in number
  • Swedish: femtioelva — Relatively large but unspecified in number