tame

English

Dogs and sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /teɪm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪm

Etymology 1

From Old English tam, from Proto-Germanic *tamaz, from Proto-Indo-European *demh₂-.

Adjective

tame (comparative tamer, superlative tamest)

1. Not or no longer wild; domesticated

   They have a tame wildcat.

2. (chiefly of animals) Mild and well-behaved; accustomed to human contact

   The lion was quite tame.

3. Not exciting

   This party is too tame for me.

   For a thriller, that film was really tame.

4. Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless.
   • Roscommon

     tame slaves of the laborious plough

5. (mathematics, of a knot) Capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

Synonyms

• (not exciting): dull, insipid

Antonyms

• (not wild): wild
• (mild and well-behaved): gentle
• (not exciting): exciting
• (mathematics): wild

Derived terms

• tamely
• tameness

Translations

not wild

• Arabic: اليف (ʾalīf)
• Armenian: ընտանի (əntani)
• Catalan: mans
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 馴服的, 驯服的 (zh) (xúnfú de)

• Czech: krotký m
• Danish: tam
• Dutch: tam (nl)
• Finnish: kesy (fi)
• French: apprivoisé (fr)
• German: zahm (de)
• Greek: ήμερος (el) m (ímeros)
• Hawaiian: laka
• Hungarian: szelíd (hu)
• Icelandic: taminn (is), gæfur, spakur (is)
• Indonesian: jinak (id)
• Italian: addomesticato (it), domato (it) m

• Japanese: 飼いならされた (かいならされた, kainarasareta)
• Korean: 길들인 (gildeurin)
• Low German:

  German Low German: tamm, tahm

• Luxembourgish: zam
• Malay: jinak
• Meänkieli: alju
• Norwegian: tam
• Polish: oswojony (pl) m
• Portuguese: domesticado (pt)
• Russian: приручённый (ru) (priručónnyj), ручной (ru) (ručnój) (esp. of small animals)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannsaichte
• Serbo-Croatian: pitom (sh) m, питом
• Spanish: domesticado (es), manso (es) m
• Swedish: tam (sv)
• Tagalog: maamo
• Telugu: మచ్చిక (te) (maccika)
• Thai: เชื่อง

Verb

tame (third-person singular simple present tames, present participle taming, simple past and past participle tamed)

1. (transitive) to make something tame

   He tamed the wild horse.

2. (intransitive) to become tame

Derived terms

• tamer

Translations

to make something tame

• Armenian: ընտելացնել (əntelacʿnel)
• Catalan: domar (ca), amansir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 馴服, 驯服 (zh) (xúnfú), 馴化, 驯化 (zh) (xùnhuà)

• Czech: krotit
• Danish: tæmme (da)
• Dutch: temmen (nl)
• Finnish: kesyttää (fi)
• French: apprivoiser (fr), domestiquer (fr), dompter (fr)
• German: zähmen (de)
• Greek: εξημερώνω (el) (eximeróno), δαμάζω (el) (damázo), τιθασεύω (el) (tithasévo)

• Indonesian: menjinakkan (id)
• Italian: addomesticare (it), domare (it)
• Japanese: 飼いならす (かいならす, kainarasu)
• Korean: 길들이다 (ko) (gildeurida)
• Low German:

  German Low German: tähmen, temmen

• Norwegian: temme
• Polish: oswajać
• Portuguese: domar (pt)
• Russian: прируча́ть (ru) impf (priručátʹ), приручи́ть (ru) pf (priručítʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannsaich, callaich
• Serbo-Croatian: pripitomiti (sh), припитомити
• Spanish: amansar, domar (es)
• Swedish: tämja (sv)

to become tame

• Armenian: ընտելանալ (əntelanal)
• Finnish: kesyyntyä
• German: zahm werden
• Greek: εξημερώνομαι (el) (eximerónomai)
• Italian: addomesticato (it) m, essere domato

• Korean: 길들다 (ko) (gildeulda)
• Low German:

  German Low German: tamm warrn, tahm warrn

• Norwegian: temmes
• Portuguese: ser domado, domar-se (pt)
• Russian: прируча́ться impf (priručátʹsja), приручи́ться pf (priručítʹsja)

External links

• Tame on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Compare French entamer (“to cut into, to broach”).

Verb

tame (third-person singular simple present tames, present participle taming, simple past and past participle tamed)

1. (obsolete, UK, dialect) To broach or enter upon; to taste, as a liquor; to divide; to distribute; to deal out.
   • Fuller

     In the time of famine he is the Joseph of the country, and keeps the poor from starving. Then he tameth his stacks of corn, which not his covetousness, but providence, hath reserved for time of need.

Anagrams

• mate, maté
• meat
• meta, Meta
• team

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Inari Sami

Noun

tame

1. glue

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Swedish

Adjective

tame

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of tam.