Meaning

verb give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect

verb seem to be true, probable, or apparent

verb appear to exist

originFrom Middle English semen (“to seem, befit, be becoming”), from Old Norse sœma (“to conform to, beseem, befit”), from Proto-Germanic *sōmijaną (“to unite, fit”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one; whole”). Cognate with Scots seme (“to be fitting; beseem”), Danish sømme (“to beseem”), Old Swedish søma, Faroese søma (“to be proper”). Related also to Old Norse sómi (“honour”) ( > archaic Danish…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0