yam
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word yam. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word yam, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say yam in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word yam you have here. The definition of the word yam will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofyam, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Yams
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Portuguese inhame and Spanish ñame, likely from Wolof ñàmbi (“cassava”) or a related word. The term was spelled yam as early as 1657.
Noun
yam (plural yams)
- Any climbing vine of the genus Dioscorea in the Eastern and Western hemispheres, usually cultivated.
- The edible, starchy, tuberous root of that plant, a tropical staple food.
- 1958, Chinua Achebe, chapter 4, in Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, published 1959, part 1, page 34:
- Inwardly Okonkwo knew that the boys were still too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing seed-yams. But he thought that one could not begin too early. Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed.
- (US) A sweet potato; a tuber from the species Ipomoea batatas.
- (Scotland) A potato.
- (New Zealand) A oca; a tuber from the species Oxalis tuberosa.
- (Malaysia, Singapore) Taro.
- An orange-brown colour, like the flesh of the yam. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- yam:
Usage notes
Careful use distinguishes yams (genus Dioscorea) from sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas), while casual American use conflates these.
Derived terms
- aerial yam, air yam (Dioscorea bulbifera)
- afoo yam
- betel yam (Dioscorea oppositifolia)
- bitter yam (Dioscorea bulbifera, Dioscorea dumetorum)
- cheeky yam (Dioscorea bulbifera)
- Chinese yam (Dioscorea polystachya, Dioscorea oppositifolia)
- common yam (Dioscorea batatas)
- cush-cush yam (Dioscorea trifida)
- elephant foot yam
- elephant yam (Amorphophallus konjac)
- fiveleaf yam (Dioscorea pentaphylla)
- Foochow yam (Dioscorea septemloba)
- fourleaf yam (Dioscorea villosa)
- garnet yam
- greater yam (Dioscorea alata)
- Indian three-leaf yam (Dioscorea hispida)
- Indian yam (Dioscorea trifida)
- intoxicating yam (Dioscorea hispida)
- Japanese mountain yam (Dioscorea japonica)
- Japanese yam (Dioscorea japonica)
- jewel yam
- lesser yam (Dioscorea esculenta)
- Mexican yam (Dioscorea mexicana)
- mountain yam (Dioscorea japonica, Dioscorea tokoro, etc.)
- negro yam
- New Zealand yam (Oxalis tuberosa)
- Okinawan yam
- parsnip yam (Dioscorea bulbifera)
- potato yam (Dioscorea bulbifera)
- purple yam (Dioscorea alata)
- seven-lobed yam (Dioscorea septemloba)
- thorny yam (Dioscorea tomentosa)
- tropical yam (Dioscorea alata)
- true yam (Dioscorea spp.)
- water yam (Aponogeton spp.; Dioscorea alata)
- white yam (Dioscorea alata)
- wild yam
- winged yam (Dioscorea alata)
- yam bean
- yamberry
- yam cake
- yam daisy
- yamless
- yamlike
- yampee (Dioscorea trifida)
- yam stick
- yellow yam (Dioscorea cayenensis. Dioscorea panthaica)
Translations
any Dioscorea vine
|
its edible root
|
sweet potato — see sweet potato
potato — see potato
taro — see taro
Etymology 2
Alternative form of hjem. Likely caused by influence from Old Norse heim (“home, homewards”), the accusative form of heimr (“abode, world, land”), from Proto-Germanic *haimaz. More at home.
Noun
yam (plural yams)
Etymology 3
Verb
yam
- Pronunciation spelling of am.
- 1904, Carrie Hunt Latta, “The Last Day of Schol”, in The Reader Magazine, volume IV, Indianopolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, page 291:
- “Stay, jailer, stay, and hear my woe,” repeating again and again, very softly, the line at the end of each stanza, “I am not mad, I am not mad.”
Except she sang it:
“I yam not mad, I yam not mad.”
Etymology 4
Ultimately from Fula nyaamude (“to eat”) or a cognate Fula-Wolof term.
Verb
yam (third-person singular simple present yams, present participle yamming, simple past and past participle yammed)
- (UK, nonstandard, slang) To eat.
- 2016, Zadie Smith, Swing Time, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 78:
- “If I was that snake I’d just open my jaw and yam that fool up in one bite!”
Etymology 5
Apparently a variation of jam (“dunk”, verb).
Verb
yam (third-person singular simple present yams, present participle yamming, simple past and past participle yammed)
- (especially basketball) To dunk on; to beat humiliatingly.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:yam.
Further reading
- Jonathon Green (2024) “yam n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang
- Jonathon Green (2024) “yam v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang
See also
etymologically unrelated terms containing the word "yam"
Anagrams
Aleut
Noun
yam
- (Eastern) yesterday
References
- 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.
Azerbaijani
Etymology
See yamçı.
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Noun
yam (definite accusative yamı, plural yamlar)
Declension
| Declension of yam | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |||||||
| nominative | yam |
yamlar | ||||||
| definite accusative | yamı |
yamları | ||||||
| dative | yama |
yamlara | ||||||
| locative | yamda |
yamlarda | ||||||
| ablative | yamdan |
yamlardan | ||||||
| definite genitive | yamın |
yamların | ||||||
Derived terms
Further reading
- “yam” in Obastan.com.
Beja
Noun
yám
References
- Klaus and Charlotte Wedekind, Abuzeinab Musa, Beja Pedagogical Grammar (2005)
- Etudes berbères et chamito-sémitiques: mélanges offerts à Karl-G. Prasse (2000, →ISBN, page 38
- Václav Blažek, A Lexicostatistical comparison of Omotic languages, in In Hot Pursuit of Language in Prehistory: Essays in the four fields of anthropology, page 122
Buwal
Etymology
Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.
Noun
yam
References
- Mélanie Viljoen, Michael Viljoen, Pascal Konai, François Mbouvai, Ernest Koyang, Benjamin Deli, Précis d’orthographe pour la langue buwal - Édition préliminaire (2009, Yaoundé, SIL Cameroun)
Cuvok
Etymology
Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.
Noun
yam
References
- ASJP
- Olga Stolbova, Chadic Lexical Database, issue II (2007): yam "water"
Dutch
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
yam m (plural yams or yammen, diminutive yammetje n)
- yam, a tropical vine
- its edible root
Synonyms
Lashi
Pronunciation
Postposition
yam
References
Merey
Etymology
Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.
Noun
yam
References
- Richard Gravina (compiler); Alan Boydell, Elie Doumok (facilitators), Merey lexicon (2003, SIL)
Middle English
Pronoun
yam
- (Northern, northern East Midlands) Alternative form of þem (“them”)
Mofu-Gudur
Etymology
Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.
Noun
yam
References
- Topics in Mofu-Gudur (SIL)
North Giziga
Etymology
Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.
Noun
yam
References
- Etudes berbères et chamito-sémitiques: mélanges offerts à Karl-G. Prasse (2000, →ISBN, page 38
Pnar
Etymology
From Proto-Khasian *jaːm, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *jaam. Cognate with Khasi ïam, Blang jàm, Khmu jaːm, Mang ɲaːm¹, Mon ယာံ, Khmer យំ (yum).
Pronunciation
Verb
yam
South Giziga
Etymology
Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.
Noun
yam
References
- Etudes berbères et chamito-sémitiques: mélanges offerts à Karl-G. Prasse (2000, →ISBN, page 38
Tok Pisin
Etymology
Noun
yam
Yimchungru Naga
Etymology
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k-j(i/u)m.
Noun
yam
Zulgo-Gemzek
Etymology
Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.
Noun
yam
References
- An Outline Sketch of Gemzek Grammar
- An Overview of Gemzek Narrative Discourse Features