stam

See also: Stam and stäm

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stæm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

stam (third-person singular simple present stams, present participle stamming, simple past and past participle stammed)

1. (UK, dialect, obsolete, transitive) To confound.

Noun

stam

1. (UK, dialect, obsolete) Confusion.

Anagrams

• Mats, tams, amts, mats, TAMs, Mast, mast, MTAs, ATMs, AMTs, MATs, mast-, MAST, ASTM, MATS

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch stam, from Middle Dutch stam, from Old Dutch *stam, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *stamniz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stam/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

stam (plural stamme)

1. tribe

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stɑm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: stam
• Rhymes: -ɑm

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch stam, from Old Dutch *stam, from Proto-West Germanic *stamni, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz.

Noun

stam m (plural stammen, diminutive stammetje n)

1. trunk of a tree

   Synonym: boomstam

2. (linguistics) stem
3. tribe, clan

   Synonym: volksstam

   • 2025 March 10, Edwien Bodjie, “Bendepai-contest voor behoud Saamaka cultuur [Bendepai contest for preservation of Saamaka culture]”, in De Ware Tijd‎^[1], retrieved 7 May 2025:

     Het contest stond vooral open voor jongemannen met Saamaka roots, maar het door hen gepresenteerde geldt grotendeels ook voor andere stammen.

     The contest was mostly open to young men with Saamaka roots, but what they presented is largely applicable to other tribes as well.

4. (biology, taxonomy) phylum

   Hypernym: rijk

   Hyponym: klasse

Derived terms

• boomstam
• stamhoofd
• stamhouder
• stammen
• stamvader
• volksstam

Descendants

• Afrikaans: stam
• → Papiamentu: stam

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

stam

1. inflection of stammen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Anagrams

• mast, tams

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Old Norse stammr.

Adjective

stam (masculine and feminine stam, neuter stamt, definite singular and plural stamme)

1. which stutters or stammers

Etymology 2

Noun

stam m (definite singular stammen, indefinite plural stammar, definite plural stammane)

1. European chub (Squalius cephalus)

   Synonym: årbuk

References

• “stam” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• mast, samt, tams

Swedish

en stam (sense 1)

Etymology

From Old Swedish staffn, stampn, from Old Norse stafn. Cognate with Danish stavn.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

stam c

2. a trunk (of a tree)

   Synonym: trädstam

   trädets stam

   the trunk the of tree

3. a stem (of a plant, more generally – see usage notes)
4. a stem (central part from which things branch off, sometimes abstractly)
   1. (anatomy) a stem

      hjärnstammen

      the brain stem

   2. (taxonomy) a phylum
   3. (linguistics) a stem
5. a tribe

   en indianstam

   an Indian tribe

6. a population (of animals, in an area (often a country))

   den svenska vargstammen

   the Swedish wolf population

Usage notes

The intuition in Swedish is the opposite of that in English, with a stam normally being a tree trunk (while also being the general word for stem). A stem of a herbaceous (non-woody) plant is a stjälk (“stalk”), and only a stam in a more technical sense.

Declension

Declension of stam

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	stam	stams
	definite	stammen	stammens
plural	indefinite	stammar	stammars
	definite	stammarna	stammarnas

Derived terms

• hjärnstam
• stamcell
• stamtavla
• trädstam

See also

• inföding
• klan
• stjälk

References

• stam in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• stam in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• stam in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• stam in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

Anagrams

• Mats, mast, mats, samt

West Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

stam c (plural stammen, diminutive stamke)

1. trunk of a tree
2. stem (of a plant)
3. stem (of a word)
4. family, genus
5. tribe, clan

Derived terms

• stamfaar

Further reading

• “stam”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011