yam

See also: Appendix:Variations of "yam"

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Yamba.

Symbol

yam

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Yamba.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Yamba terms

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

yam

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: yăm, IPA^(key): /jæm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æm

Etymology 1

Borrowed 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)

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) An 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)
• pounded yam
• purple yam (Dioscorea alata)
• seven-lobed yam (Dioscorea septemloba)
• thorny yam (Dioscorea tomentosa)
• toco for yam
• 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, jam (pl) m, ignam (pl) m Portuguese: inhame (pt) m Romanian: ignamă (ro) f Russian: ямс (ru) m (jams) Spanish: ñame (es) m, ñamera f (Dominican Republic) Swahili: nduma (sw), kiazi kikuu Swedish: jams (sv) Tagalog: tugi Tajik: ям (yam) Thai: มัน (th) (man), สกุลกลอย (sàgun gloi) Turkish: tatlı patates (tr) Tyap: a̱cyi (kcg) 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 Igbo: ji (ig) Irish: ionam m Lao: please add this translation if you can Lutuv: bie Malay: keladi (ms) Malayalam: കാച്ചിൽ (ml) (kāccil) Maori: uhi, uwhi, ngangarangi Motu: maho Navajo: nahooyéí Plautdietsch: Jams f Polish: jam (pl) m, ignam (pl) m Portuguese: inhame (pt) m Spanish: ñame (es) m, ame (es) m (Guatemala), yame m (El Salvador), ñangate m (Mexico) 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, 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, 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"

• danger yam
• tom yam
• yam plan
• yam slam
• 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

Etymology

Compare Somali yumbo (“to immerge (in water)”).

Noun

yám

1. water

   Ani yam gw'an.

   I drank water.

References

• Klaus and Charlotte Wedekind, Abuzeinab Musa, Beja Pedagogical Grammar (2005)
• Václav Blažek (2000), “Toward the discussion of the Berber-Nubian lexical parallels”, in Salem Chaker, editor, compiled by Salem Chaker and Andrej Zaborski, Etudes berbères et chamito-sémitiques. Mélanges offert à Karl-G. Prasse (in French and English), Peeters, →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

• (Waingmaw) IPA^(key): [jæm˧˧]
• (Mongko) IPA^(key): [jam˥˧]
• Hyphenation: yam

Noun

yam

1. (locational) beside

   yam moo ― beside

   • 2005, “Apoem ayang꞉ 41:1 [Genesis 41:1]”, in Jhoem꞉ mougsougˮ [The Book of the Bible]‎, page 66:

     Eig zain myangˮ thang꞉ Egutu khokham yhoeb moꓹ myang zigi nyang꞉ gi Nila gyid lang yam moo yhe꞉ yab nyid.

     Two years later the king of Egypt saw a dream that he was standing beside the river Nile.

References

• Qingxia Dai; Jie Li (2007), 勒期语研究 [The study of the Leqi language], Beijing: Central Institute for Nationalities Publishing House, →ISBN, page 296
• Hkaw Luk (2017), A grammatical sketch of Lacid‎, Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis), page 51

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

• Václav Blažek (2000), “Toward the discussion of the Berber-Nubian lexical parallels”, in Salem Chaker, editor, compiled by Salem Chaker and Andrej Zaborski, Etudes berbères et chamito-sémitiques. Mélanges offert à Karl-G. Prasse (in French and English), Peeters, →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

• Václav Blažek (2000), “Toward the discussion of the Berber-Nubian lexical parallels”, in Salem Chaker, editor, compiled by Salem Chaker and Andrej Zaborski, Etudes berbères et chamito-sémitiques. Mélanges offert à Karl-G. Prasse (in French and English), Peeters, →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