Mum's the word Mum's the word Mum's the word is a popular English idiom. It is related to an expression used by William Shakespeare, in "Henry VI, Part 2". The word “mum” is a slanged version of momme, which was used between 1350-1400 in Middle English with very close to the same meaning: Be silent; Do not reveal "Mum's the word" means to keep silent or quiet. "Mum" is a Middle English word meaning 'silent', and may be derived from the "mummer" who acts without speaking. Note the similar English word "mime" (Old English "mīma", Latin "mimus") meaning silent actor or imitator. The
Old English eth is replaced by thorn). In contrast with Modern English orthography, that of Old English was reasonably regular, with a mostly predictable correspondence between letters and phonemes. There were not usually any silent letters—in the word "cniht", for example, both the and were pronounced, unlike the and in the modern "knight". The following table lists the Old English letters and digraphs together with the phonemes they represent, using the same notation as in the Phonology section above. Doubled consonants are geminated; the geminate fricatives /, and cannot be voiced. Old English literature, though more abundant than literature of the continent