tum-tum

See also: tumtum and tum tum

English

Alternative forms

• tum tum, tumtum

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Perhaps onomatopoeia (of hooves or footfalls); compare tuk-tuk. Perhaps from tandem.

Noun

tum-tum (plural tum-tums)

1. (India) A dog cart; a rickshaw; a kind of vehicle.
   • 1914, Alice Maud Pennell, Pennell of the Afghan Frontier: The Life of Theodore Leighton Pennell, M.D., B. SC., F.R.C.S. Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service in India, page 414:

     An optimistic old man was our driver; he needed all his optimism too, for his tum-tum was one of the most rickety I've seen , and his little pony very tiny. The balance of this vehicle was most important; we had to sit in certain definite positions ...

   • 1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 49:

     His fellow assistant, Dr Panna Lal, was in ecstasies at the prospect, and was urgent that they should attend it together in his new tum-tum.

Etymology 2

Borrowed fom Twi Akan tumtum (“mashed green bananas”). Compare Sranan Tongo tonton (“mashed plantain dumpling”).

Noun

tum-tum (uncountable)

1. A dish made in the West Indies by beating boiled plantain in a wooden mortar until it is soft.

Etymology 3

Reduplication of tum, a shortened form of tummy.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

tum-tum (plural tum-tums)

1. (childish, informal) Stomach.

   Can't eat - my tum-tum's hurting.

   • 2000, Joy Masoff, Oh, Yuck!: The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty, Workman Publishing, published 2000, →ISBN, page 188:

     Take a little food and stir in some GASTRIC JUICE, which is made fresh daily by the 35 million glands that line your tum-tum.

2. (childish, informal) Abdomen.

   The dog likes having its tum-tum rubbed.

   • 2011, Joanne Kimes, Leslie Young, Pregnancy Sucks: What to Do When Your Miracle Makes You Miserable, Adams Media, →ISBN, page 172:

     The Internet is full of sites where you can buy everything you need to make a plaster mold of your tum-tum.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:tum-tum.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:belly.

Anagrams

• mut. mut.