Wiktionary

yam

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

English

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Yams
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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  • (UK, US) enPR: yăm, IPA(key): /jæm/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æm

Etymology 1

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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

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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
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Careful use distinguishes yams (genus Dioscorea) from sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas), while casual American use conflates these.

Derived terms
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Translations
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sweet potato — see sweet potato
potato — see potato
taro — see taro

Etymology 2

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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

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yam (plural yams)

  1. (regional, Cumberland) Home.

Etymology 3

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Verb

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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

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Ultimately from Fula nyaamude (“to eat”) or a cognate Fula-Wolof term.

Verb

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yam (third-person singular simple present yams, present participle yamming, simple past and past participle yammed)

  1. (UK, slang) To eat.

Etymology 5

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Apparently a variation of jam (“dunk”, verb).

Verb

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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.

Further reading

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See also

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etymologically unrelated terms containing the word "yam"

Anagrams

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Aleut

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Noun

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yam

  1. (Eastern) yesterday

References

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Azerbaijani

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Etymology

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See yamçı.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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yam (definite accusative yamı, plural yamlar)

  1. (historical) mail staging post

Declension

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    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

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Further reading

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  • “yam” in Obastan.com.

Beja

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Noun

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yám

  1. water

References

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  • 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

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Etymology

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Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

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yam

  1. water

References

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Cuvok

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Etymology

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Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

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yam

  1. water

References

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Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English yam.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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

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

Synonyms

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Lashi

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Pronunciation

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Postposition

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yam

  1. beside

References

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

Merey

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Etymology

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Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

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yam

  1. water

References

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

Middle English

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Pronoun

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yam

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

Mofu-Gudur

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Etymology

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Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

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yam

  1. water

References

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North Giziga

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Etymology

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Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

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yam

  1. water

References

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

Pnar

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Etymology

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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

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Verb

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yam

  1. to cry, to weep

South Giziga

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Etymology

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Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

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yam

  1. water

References

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

Tok Pisin

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Etymology

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From English yam.

Noun

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yam

  1. yam

Yimchungru Naga

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Etymology

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

Noun

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yam

  1. house

Zulgo-Gemzek

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Etymology

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Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

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yam

  1. water

References

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