Rahm

German

Alternative forms

• Ram, Raum, Rohm, Rom, Room (all obsolete)

Etymology

Dialectal variant of expected Raum (early modern German, rare), from Middle High German roum, from Old High German roum, from Proto-West Germanic *raum, from Proto-Germanic *raumaz.

The form Rahm ousted the regular form due to homonymy with Raum (“room”), from Middle High German rūm. Dialects that have developed Middle High German -ou- into -ā- are found in south-eastern and central-western Germany. Cognate with Dutch room and English ream.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁaːm/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːm

Noun

Rahm m (strong, genitive Rahmes or Rahms, no plural)

1. (especially Southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria) cream (milkfat)

   Synonym: Sahne

Usage notes

• In German standard German, Rahm is used mainly in compounds (such as Rahmsoße, Sauerrahm etc.); otherwise Sahne is much more common. This is not necessarily true of colloquial varieties nor of standard German in Austria and Switzerland.

Declension

Declension of Rahm [sg-only, masculine, strong]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Rahm
genitive	eines	des	Rahmes, Rahms
dative	einem	dem	Rahm, Rahme1
accusative	einen	den	Rahm

¹Now rare, see notes.

Synonyms

• Obers (Austrian dialect)
• Schmetten (Austrian dialect)

Derived terms

• entrahmen
• rahmig
• Rahmkäse
• Rahmsdorf
• Rahmsoße
• Rahmstufe
• Sauerrahm

See also

• Creme (“cream” in the sense of “frosting”)

Further reading

• “Rahm” in Duden online
• “Rahm” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache