yam
/jæm/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms yams yamming yammed
- noun Any climbing vine of the genus Dioscorea in the Eastern and Western hemispheres, usually cultivated.
- noun The edible, starchy, tuberous root of that plant, a tropical staple food.
- noun (US) A sweet potato; a tuber from the species Ipomoea batatas.
- noun (Scotland) A potato.
- noun (New Zealand) An oca; a tuber from the species Oxalis tuberosa.
- noun (Malaysia, Singapore) Taro.
- noun An orange-brown colour, like the flesh of the yam.
- noun (regional, Cumberland) Home.
- verb (UK, slang) To eat.
- verb (especially basketball) To dunk on; to beat humiliatingly.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
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.
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.
Ultimately from Fula nyaamude (“to eat”) or a cognate Fula-Wolof term.
Apparently a variation of jam (“dunk”, verb).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A large, esculent, farinaceous tuber of various climbing plants of the genus Dioscorea; also, the plants themselves. Mostly natives of warm climates. The plants have netted-veined, petioled leaves, and pods with three broad wings. The commonest species is D. sativa, but several others are cultivated. Chinese yam, a plant (Dioscorea Batatas) with a long and slender tuber, hardier than most of the other species.
Etymology [Pg. inhame, probably from some native name.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “yam”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details