herm

American  

[hurm] / hɜrm /

noun

1. a monument consisting of a four-sided shaft tapering inward from top to bottom and bearing a head or bust; those of Hermes usually had an erect penis, which passersby stroked for luck.

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herm British  

/ hɜːm, ˈhɜːmə /

noun

1. (in ancient Greece) a stone head of Hermes surmounting a square stone pillar

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Etymology

Origin of herm

1570–80; < Latin hermēs < Greek hermês statue of Hermes

Example Sentences

The single square column features crouching figures in the capital who seem to be holding up the arch, a playful evocation of the classical figure of the caryatid or herm.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 21, 2026

One such find: a splendid 500 B.C. marble head from a herm, the ubiquitous pedestal monuments used in antiquity to guard building entrances.

From Time Magazine Archive

Since in classic times a herm, or hermes, was used to mark distances on the roads, so here the hermes is used to mark distances, or periods in time.

From Palaces and Courts of the Exposition by James, Juliet Helena Lumbard

Alcamenes, the rival or pupil of Pheidias, was the sculptor of a herm at Athens, a copy of which, dating from Roman times, was discovered at Pergamum in 1903.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 3 "Helmont, Jean" to "Hernosand" by Various

"Faith! it's anither warnin' this no' to parley at nicht wi' onything less than twa or three inch o' oak dale atween ye and herm."

From Doom Castle by Munro, Neil