yam

English

Yams.

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /jæm/
• Rhymes: -æm

Etymology 1

From Portuguese inhame and Spanish ñame, possibly from the Fula nyami (“to eat”). The term was coined in 1657.

Noun

yam (plural yams)

1. (botany) 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.
3. (US) A sweet potato; a tuber from the genus Ipomoea.
4. (Scotland) Potato.

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

• purple yam

Translations

any Dioscorea vine

• Arabic: يام (ar) (yām) m
• Armenian: դիոսկոր (hy) (dioskor)
• Catalan: nyam (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 山藥 (cmn) 山药 (cmn) (shānyào)

• Czech: jam (cs) m
• Danish: yams (da) c
• Dutch: yam (nl) m, yamplant (nl), yamswortel (nl) m, jam (nl) m
• Esperanto: ignamo (eo)
• Fijian: uvi (fj)
• Finnish: jamssi (fi)
• French: igname (fr) f
• Georgian: იამსი (ka) (iamsi)
• German: Yamswurzel (de) f, Yams (de) f
• Hausa: aduru (ha)
• Hawaiian: uhi
• Indonesian: ubi (id)
• Italian: igname (it)
• Japanese: 山芋 (ja) (やまいも, yamaimo), 自然薯 (ja) (じねんじょ, jinenjo), ヤマノイモ (ja) (yamanoimo)
• Korean: 마 (ko) (ma)

• Latvian: dioskorėja (lv) f
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Luhya: enduma
• Malay: ubi (ms)
• Maori: uhi (mi), uwhi (mi)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: jams (nb) m

  Nynorsk: jams (nn) m

• Polish: pochrzyn (pl) m
• Portuguese: inhame (pt) m
• Romanian: ignamă (ro) f
• Russian: ямс (ru) (jams) m
• Spanish: ñame (es) m
• Swahili: nduma (sw)
• Swedish: jams (sv)
• Thai: มัน (th) (man)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: iam (cy) m

its edible root

• Dutch: yam (nl) m, yamswortel (nl) m, jam (nl) m
• Maori: uhi (mi), uwhi (mi)
• Navajo: nahooyéí

• Swahili: nduma (sw)

sweet potato — see sweet potato

potato — see potato

Etymology 2

Noun

yam (plural yams)

1. (West Cumbria) home.

Anagrams

• Amy, May, may, MYA, Mya, mya

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA: /jɑm/

Noun

yam m (plural yams or yammen, diminutive yammetje)

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

Synonyms

• jam
• yamswortel