glos·seme \ˈgläˌsēm, ˈglȯˌ-\noun (-s) Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary gloss- + -eme : the smallest unit (as a word, a stem, a grammatical element, an intonation, or an order of words) that signals a meaning in a language • glos·se·mic\(ˈ) ̷ ̷|sēmik\adjective