From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Proto-Central Naga *hmaj.

• (Chungli) IPA^(key): /tɯ˥.ma˥/, [tə˥.ma˥]

tema

1. (Chungli) surface

• Bruhn, Daniel Wayne (2014), A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Central Naga‎^[1], Berkeley: University of California, pages 78, 189

Borrowed from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma).

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈte.mə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈte.ma]

tema m (plural temes)

1. theme
2. topic, subject
3. (linguistics) theme, topic

   Synonym: tòpic

   Antonym: rema

4. (Internet) discussion thread, topic

   Synonym: fil

• tematització

• temàtic

• “tema”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “tema” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From temo +‎ -a.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtema/
• Rhymes: -ema
• Syllabification: te‧ma

tema

1. subject; related to a topic

From Proto-Finnic *tämä, from Proto-Uralic *tä. Cognate with Finnish tämä, Northern Sami dát and Hungarian té- in tétova (“here and there”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈtemɑ/
• Hyphenation: te‧ma

tema (genitive tema, partitive teda, short form ta)

1. he/she (3rd person singular animate personal pronoun)

• Used stressed in a sentence; when the pronoun is unstressed, ta is used.

Declension of tema
3rd person	singular		plural
	long	short	long	short
nominative	tema	ta	nemad	nad
genitive	tema	ta	nende	nende
partitive	teda		neid
illative	temasse	tasse	nendesse	neisse
inessive	temas	tas	nendes	neis
elative	temast	tast	nendest	neist
allative	temale	talle	nendele	neile
adessive	temal	tal	nendel	neil
ablative	temalt	talt	nendelt	neilt
translative	temaks	–	nendeks	neiks
terminative	temani	–	nendeni	–
essive	temana	–	nendena	–
abessive	temata	–	nendeta	–
comitative	temaga	taga	nendega	–

• “tema”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
• “tema”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN
• tema in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

Borrowed from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma).

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʰeːma/

tema n (genitive singular tema, plural temu or temur)

1. theme; subject

• evni

• temadagur
• temakvøld
• temavika

• "tema" at Sprotin.fo

tema

1. inflection of temer:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

From Dutch thema, from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma).

• IPA^(key): [ˈtɛma]
• Hyphenation: tè‧ma
• Rhymes: -ma, -a

tèma (plural tema-tema)

1. theme

• “tema”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

From Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma).

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.ma/
• Rhymes: -ɛma
• Hyphenation: tè‧ma

tema m (plural temi)

1. theme, subject
2. (linguistics) stem
3. thesis

• a tema
• sottotema
• tematico

• → Turkish: tema

From the verb temere. Compare Romanian teamă, Romansh tema, temma.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.ma/, (traditional) /ˈte.ma/
• Rhymes: -ɛma, (traditional) -ema
• Hyphenation: tè‧ma, (traditional) té‧ma

tema f (plural teme)

1. fear

tema

1. inflection of temere:
   1. first/second/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• Meta, mate, matè, meta, meta-, metà, team

tema

1. Rōmaji transcription of てま

Hinde (1904) records kutemma as an equivalent of English mutilate in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /tɛma/

tema (infinitive gũtema)

1. to cut (with a knife)

• gũtinia

(Nouns)

• ndemwa class 9/10
• mũtemi class 1

(Verbs)

• gũtemera
• gũtemwo

(Proverbs)

• gũtema na kanua ti gũtema na rũhiũ
• rũtemaga mwenji

• Armstrong, Lilias E. (1940). The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu, p. 363. Rep. 1967. (Also in 2018 by Routledge).
• Barlow, A. Ruffell (1960). Studies in Kikuyu Grammar and Idiom, p. 32.

Borrowed from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma); cognate to Latin thema.

temà f (plural tèmos) stress pattern 2

1. theme; subject

Borrowed from Italian tema.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛː.ma/
• Rhymes: -ɛːma

tema m or f (plural temi)

1. topic, theme

• tema’

From Ancient Greek θέμα (théma).

tema n (definite singular temaet, indefinite plural tema or temaer, definite plural temaene)

1. a theme
2. a subject or topic

• temapark

• “tema” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Ancient Greek θέμα (théma).

tema n (definite singular temaet, indefinite plural tema, definite plural temaa)

1. a theme
2. a subject or topic

• temapark

• “tema” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /ˈte.mɑ/

tema

1. singular imperative of temian, to tame

• Rhymes: -emɐ
• Hyphenation: te‧ma

Borrowed from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma). Doublet of teima.

• thema (obsolete)

tema m (plural temas)

1. theme; topic; subject (what something is about)

   Synonym: tópico

2. theme; motif (recurring idea)

   Synonym: motivo

3. (music) theme (main melody of a piece of music)
4. (film, television) theme (melody that identifies a film or programme)
5. (linguistic morphology) theme (the main stem of a word, without the affixes)
6. (graphical user interface) theme; skin (colour schemes, sounds, artwork of an application)

   Synonym: skin

7. (historical) theme (regional unit of the Byzantine empire)

• teminha (diminutive), temazinho (diminutive)

• temático

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

tema

1. inflection of temer:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• “tema”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “tema”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

From Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma).

tema m (plural temas)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter, Vallader) subject, topic, theme

From temair, temer, etc. Compare Italian tema, Romanian teamă.

• temma (Puter, Vallader)

tema f (plural temas)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) fear

• IPA^(key): /těːma/
• Hyphenation: te‧ma

téma f (Cyrillic spelling те́ма)

1. theme, subject

-temá

1. black
2. dark

From Proto-Slavic *tьma.

• IPA^(key): /təmá/, /tə́ma/

təmȁ or tə̏ma f

1. dark, darkness

Declension of tema
nom. sing.	temà
gen. sing.	temè
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	temà	temì	temè
accusative	temò	temì	temè
genitive	temè	tèm	tèm
dative	temì	temáma	temàm
locative	temì	temàh	temàh
instrumental	temò	temáma	temámi

Feminine, a-stem
nom. sing.	tèma
gen. sing.	tème
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	tèma	tèmi	tème
genitive (rodȋlnik)	tème	tèm	tèm
dative (dajȃlnik)	tèmi	tèmama	tèmam
accusative (tožȋlnik)	tèmo	tèmi	tème
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	tèmi	tèmah	tèmah
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	tèmo	tèmama	tèmami

From Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμᾰ (thémă).

• IPA^(key): /téːma/

tẹ̑ma f

1. topic, theme

Feminine, a-stem
nom. sing.	téma
gen. sing.	téme
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	téma	témi	téme
genitive (rodȋlnik)	téme	tém	tém
dative (dajȃlnik)	témi	témama	témam
accusative (tožȋlnik)	témo	témi	téme
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	témi	témah	témah
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	témo	témama	témami

• “tema”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2026

• IPA^(key): /ˈtema/ [ˈt̪e.ma]
• Rhymes: -ema
• Syllabification: te‧ma

Borrowed from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek θέμα (théma). Doublet of taima.

tema m (plural temas)

1. theme; plot (of a book, film or other media)

   Me gusta la serie porque el tema es complicado.

   I like the series because the plot is complicated.

2. topic; matter; subject

   el tema es que… ― the thing is…

   por el tema de ― because of…

3. (linguistics) theme; topic

   Antonym: rema

4. song, track

   Alternative forms: (augmentative) temazo, (augmentative) temón

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

tema

1. inflection of temar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative
2. inflection of temer:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• “tema”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

-tema (infinitive kutema)

1. to slash, to cut with a panga
2. to spit

Conjugation of -tema
Positive present -natema Subjunctive -teme Negative -temi Imperative singular tema
Infinitives
Positive kutema Negative kutotema
Imperatives
Singular tema Plural temeni
Tensed forms
Habitual hutema Positive past positive subject concord + -litema Negative past negative subject concord + -kutema
Positive present (positive subject concord + -natema) Singular Plural 1st person ninatema/natema tunatema 2nd person unatema mnatema 3rd person m-wa(I/II) anatema wanatema other classes positive subject concord + -natema
Negative present (negative subject concord + -temi) Singular Plural 1st person sitemi hatutemi 2nd person hutemi hamtemi 3rd person m-wa(I/II) hatemi hawatemi other classes negative subject concord + -temi
Positive future positive subject concord + -tatema Negative future negative subject concord + -tatema
Positive subjunctive (positive subject concord + -teme) Singular Plural 1st person niteme tuteme 2nd person uteme mteme 3rd person m-wa(I/II) ateme wateme other classes positive subject concord + -teme
Negative subjunctive positive subject concord + -siteme Positive present conditional positive subject concord + -ngetema Negative present conditional positive subject concord + -singetema Positive past conditional positive subject concord + -ngalitema Negative past conditional positive subject concord + -singalitema
Gnomic (positive subject concord + -atema) Singular Plural 1st person natema twatema 2nd person watema mwatema 3rd person m-wa(I/II) atema watema m-mi(III/IV) watema yatema ji-ma(V/VI) latema yatema ki-vi(VII/VIII) chatema vyatema n(IX/X) yatema zatema u(XI) watema see n(X) or ma(VI) class ku(XV/XVII) kwatema pa(XVI) patema mu(XVIII) mwatema
Perfect positive subject concord + -metema "Already" positive subject concord + -meshatema "Not yet" negative subject concord + -jatema "If/When" positive subject concord + -kitema "If not" positive subject concord + -sipotema Consecutive katema / positive subject concord + -katema Consecutive subjunctive positive subject concord + -kateme
Object concord (indicative positive) Singular Plural 1st person -nitema -tutema 2nd person -kutema -watema/-kutemeni/-watemeni 3rd person m-wa(I/II) -mtema -watema m-mi(III/IV) -utema -itema ji-ma(V/VI) -litema -yatema ki-vi(VII/VIII) -kitema -vitema n(IX/X) -itema -zitema u(XI) -utema see n(X) or ma(VI) class ku(XV/XVII) -kutema pa(XVI) -patema mu(XVIII) -mutema Reflexive -jitema
Relative forms General positive (positive subject concord + (object concord) + -tema- + relative marker) Singular Plural m-wa(I/II) -temaye -temao m-mi(III/IV) -temao -temayo ji-ma(V/VI) -temalo -temayo ki-vi(VII/VIII) -temacho -temavyo n(IX/X) -temayo -temazo u(XI) -temao see n(X) or ma(VI) class ku(XV/XVII) -temako pa(XVI) -temapo mu(XVIII) -temamo Other forms (subject concord + tense marker + relative marker + (object concord) + -tema) Singular Plural m-wa(I/II) -yetema -otema m-mi(III/IV) -otema -yotema ji-ma(V/VI) -lotema -yotema ki-vi(VII/VIII) -chotema -vyotema n(IX/X) -yotema -zotema u(XI) -otema see n(X) or ma(VI) class ku(XV/XVII) -kotema pa(XVI) -potema mu(XVIII) -motema
Some forms not commonly seen in modern Standard Swahili are absent from the table. See Appendix:Swahili verbs for more information.

• Verbal derivations:
  • Applicative: -temea
  • Causative: -temesha
  • Stative: -temeka

• Nominal derivations:
  • utemaji (“spitting”)

Borrowed from Latin thema.

tema n

1. a theme, a topic

• tematisk

• tema in Svensk ordbok.

• meta, tame, team

Borrowed from Spanish tema.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈtema/ [ˈt̪ɛː.mɐ]
• Rhymes: -ema
• Syllabification: te‧ma

tema (Baybayin spelling ᜆᜒᜋ)

1. theme; subject

   Synonym: paksa

2. (colloquial) resentment (often expressed indirectly in one's words)

   Synonyms: hinanakit, sama ng loob, pagdaramdam

• pahatid
• mensahe

• mate

Inherited from Proto-Bantu *-téma.

• IPA^(key): /téma/

-tema (infinitive okutema) (transitive)

1. (with an axe or machete) to cut, chop, fell

   Near-synonym: -sara

2. (of snakes) to bite

   Near-synonym: -ruma

• Verbal derivations:
  • Applicative: -temera
  • Long causative: -temesa
  • Passive: -temwa
  • Reduplicative: -tematema

• Nominal derivations:
  • ekitemamuhoro (“mantis”)
  • ekiteme (“cleared field”)
  • omutemi (“feller”)

• Kaji, Shigeki (2007), A Rutooro Vocabulary‎^[2], Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), →ISBN, pages 244, 290
• Rubongoya, L. T. (2013), Katondogorozi y'Orunyoro-Rutooro n'Orungereza [Runyoro–Rutooro-English and English-Runyoro–Rutooro dictionary]‎^[3], Kampala: Modrug Publishers, →ISBN, page 396
• Entry 2832 at Bantu Lexical Reconstructions 3

Borrowed from Italian tema.

tema (definite accusative temayı, plural temalar)

1. theme, subject

Borrowed from Latin thema.

tema (plural temalar)

1. theme, subject