yam

See also: Yam, yám, yàm, yâm, yaṃ, yɑm, y am, and þ.á.m

English

Yams

Pronunciation

• enPR: yăm, IPA^(key): /jæm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æm

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. Doublet of name.

Noun

yam (plural yams)

1. Any climbing vine of the genus Dioscorea in the Eastern and Western hemispheres, usually cultivated.
2. 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.

3. (US) A sweet potato; a tuber from the species Ipomoea batatas.
4. (Scotland) A potato.
5. (New Zealand) A oca; a tuber from the species Oxalis tuberosa.
6. (Malaysia, Singapore) Taro.
7. 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

• Ajië: mëu
• Aklanon: ubi
• Arabic: يَام m (yām)
• Armenian: դիոսկոր (dioskor)
• Assamese: কাঠ আলু (kath alu)
• Bole: doya
• Bulgarian: ямс m (jams)
• Burmese: ပီလောပီနံ (my) (pilau:pinam)
• Catalan: nyam m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 山藥／山药 (zh) (shānyào)

• Czech: jam (cs) m
• Danish: yams c
• Dutch: yam (nl) m, yamplant, yamswortel (nl) m, jam (nl) m
• Esperanto: ignamo
• Farefare: busre, busa pl
• Fijian: uvi
• Finnish: jamssi (fi)
• French: igname (fr) f
• Georgian: იამსი (iamsi)
• German: Yamswurzel (de) f, Yams (de) f
• Haitian Creole: yanm
• Hausa: aduru, doya (ha)
• Hawaiian: uhi
• Hindi: रतालू (hi) m (ratālū), आलू (hi) m (ālū)
• Hungarian: jamsz (hu), jam (hu)
• Ido: inyamo (io)
• Indonesian: ubi (id)
• Italian: igname m
• Japanese: 山芋 (やまいも, yamaimo), 自然薯 (ja) (じねんじょ, jinenjo), ヤマノイモ (ja) (yamanoimo)
• Javanese: téla rambat
• Karekare: dauya
• Kazakh: тәтті картоп (tättı kartop)
• Kongo: mbala
• Korean: 마 (ko) (ma)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: سەڤەتالکا ھیندی (sevetalka hîndî), بنەریا ھیندی (binerdiya hîndî)

• Lao: ເຜີ່ມ (phœ̄m)
• Latvian: dioskorėja f
• Lithuanian: dioskorėjos
• Luhya: enduma
• Malagasy: oviala (mg)
• Malay: ubi (ms)
• Malayalam: കാച്ചിൽ (ml) (kāccil)
• Mansaka: obi
• Maori: uhi, uwhi
• Mongolian: йам (jam)
• Moore: busa, busri, busa pl
• Motu: maho
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: jams m

  Nynorsk: jams m

• Nupe: eci
• Polish: pochrzyn m
• Portuguese: inhame (pt) m
• Romanian: ignamă (ro) f
• Russian: ямс (ru) m (jams)
• Spanish: ñame (es) m
• Swahili: nduma (sw), kiazi kikuu
• Swedish: jams (sv)
• Tagalog: tugi
• Tajik: ям (yam)
• Thai: มัน (th) (man), สกุลกลอย (sàgun gloi)
• Turkish: tatlı patates (tr)
• Uzbek: shirin kartoshka
• Vietnamese: khoai (vi)
• Welsh: iam m
• Western Bukidnon Manobo: uvi
• Xârâcùù: ku
• Yoruba: iṣu, iyán (pounded)

its edible root

• Big Nambas: pai
• Bulgarian: ямс m (jams)
• Central Dusun: guol
• Dutch: yam (nl) m, yamswortel (nl) m, jam (nl) m
• Finnish: jamssi (fi)
• Hindi: रतालू (hi) m (ratālū), आलू (hi) m (ālū)
• Hungarian: jamsz (hu), jam (hu), jamszgyökér (hu), jamgyökér
• Irish: ionam m
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: keladi (ms)
• Malayalam: കാച്ചിൽ (ml) (kāccil)
• Maori: uhi, uwhi, ngangarangi
• Motu: maho
• Navajo: nahooyéí
• Plautdietsch: Jams f
• Portuguese: inhame (pt) m
• Swahili: nduma (sw)
• Thai: มันเสา (man-sǎo), ฮ่วยซัว (hûay sua)
• Turkish: yam (tr)
• Vietnamese: sắn dây (vi)
• Yoruba: iṣu

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)

1. (regional, Cumberland) Home.

Etymology 3

Verb

yam

1. Pronunciation spelling of am.
   • 1904, Carrie Hunt Latta, “The Last Day of Schol”, in The Reader Magazine‎^[1], 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)

1. (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)

2. (especially basketball) To dunk on; to beat humiliatingly.
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:yam.

Further reading

• “yam n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
• “yam v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

See also

etymologically unrelated terms containing the word "yam"

• tom yam
• yam yam

 

Anagrams

• Amy, MYA, May, Mya, may, mya

Aleut

Noun

yam

1. (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)

1. (historical) mail staging post

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

Possessive forms of yam
	nominative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	yamım	yamlarım
sənin (“your”)	yamın	yamların
onun (“his/her/its”)	yamı	yamları
bizim (“our”)	yamımız	yamlarımız
sizin (“your”)	yamınız	yamlarınız
onların (“their”)	yamı or yamları	yamları
	accusative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	yamımı	yamlarımı
sənin (“your”)	yamını	yamlarını
onun (“his/her/its”)	yamını	yamlarını
bizim (“our”)	yamımızı	yamlarımızı
sizin (“your”)	yamınızı	yamlarınızı
onların (“their”)	yamını or yamlarını	yamlarını
	dative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	yamıma	yamlarıma
sənin (“your”)	yamına	yamlarına
onun (“his/her/its”)	yamına	yamlarına
bizim (“our”)	yamımıza	yamlarımıza
sizin (“your”)	yamınıza	yamlarınıza
onların (“their”)	yamına or yamlarına	yamlarına
	locative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	yamımda	yamlarımda
sənin (“your”)	yamında	yamlarında
onun (“his/her/its”)	yamında	yamlarında
bizim (“our”)	yamımızda	yamlarımızda
sizin (“your”)	yamınızda	yamlarınızda
onların (“their”)	yamında or yamlarında	yamlarında
	ablative
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	yamımdan	yamlarımdan
sənin (“your”)	yamından	yamlarından
onun (“his/her/its”)	yamından	yamlarından
bizim (“our”)	yamımızdan	yamlarımızdan
sizin (“your”)	yamınızdan	yamlarınızdan
onların (“their”)	yamından or yamlarından	yamlarından
	genitive
	singular	plural
mənim (“my”)	yamımın	yamlarımın
sənin (“your”)	yamının	yamlarının
onun (“his/her/its”)	yamının	yamlarının
bizim (“our”)	yamımızın	yamlarımızın
sizin (“your”)	yamınızın	yamlarınızın
onların (“their”)	yamının or yamlarının	yamlarının

Derived terms

• yamçı

Further reading

• “yam” in Obastan.com.

Beja

Noun

yám

1. water

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

1. water

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

1. water

References

• ASJP
• Olga Stolbova, Chadic Lexical Database, issue II (2007): yam "water"

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English yam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɑm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: yam
• Rhymes: -ɑm

Noun

yam m (plural yams or yammen, diminutive yammetje n)

1. yam, a tropical vine
2. its edible root

Synonyms

• jam
• yamswortel

Lashi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jam/

Postposition

yam

1. beside

References

• Hkaw Luk (2017) A grammatical sketch of Lacid‎^[2], Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis)

Merey

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

yam

1. water

References

• Richard Gravina (compiler); Alan Boydell, Elie Doumok (facilitators), Merey lexicon (2003, SIL)

Middle English

Pronoun

yam

1. (Northern, northern East Midlands) Alternative form of þem (“them”)

Mofu-Gudur

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

yam

1. water

References

• Topics in Mofu-Gudur (SIL)

North Giziga

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

yam

1. water

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 [Cuang] jaːm, Mang ɲaːm¹, Mon ယာံ, Khmer យំ (yum).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jam/

Verb

yam

1. to cry, to weep

South Giziga

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

yam

1. water

References

• Etudes berbères et chamito-sémitiques: mélanges offerts à Karl-G. Prasse (2000, →ISBN, page 38

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English yam.

Noun

yam

1. yam

Yimchungru Naga

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k-j(i/u)m.

Noun

yam

1. house

Zulgo-Gemzek

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

yam

1. water

References

• An Outline Sketch of Gemzek Grammar
• An Overview of Gemzek Narrative Discourse Features