yam

See also: yàm, yâm, yaṃ, y am, and þ.á.m

English

Yams.

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /jæm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æm

Etymology 1

From Portuguese inhame and Spanish ñame, possibly from the Fula nyami ‎(“to eat”). 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.
3. (US) A sweet potato; a tuber from the species Ipomoea batatas.
4. (Scotland) Potato.
5. (New Zealand) A oca; a tuber from the species Oxalis tuberosa.

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

• Chinese yam
• purple yam
• wild yam
• yamless

Translations

any Dioscorea vine

• Arabic: يَام m ‎(yām)
• Armenian: դիոսկոր ‎(dioskor)
• Bole: doya
• Burmese: ပီလောပီနံ (my) ‎(pilau:pinam)
• Catalan: nyam m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 山藥 (zh) 山药 (zh) ‎(shānyào)

• Czech: jam (cs) m
• Danish: yams c
• Dutch: yam (nl) m, yamplant, yamswortel (nl) m, jam (nl) m
• Esperanto: ignamo
• 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)
• Indonesian: ubi (id)
• Italian: igname
• Japanese: 山芋 ‎(やまいも, yamaimo), 自然薯 ‎(じねんじょ, jinenjo), ヤマノイモ ‎(yamanoimo)
• Karekare: dauya
• Kazakh: тәтті картоп ‎(tätti kartop)
• Korean: 마 (ko) ‎(ma)

• Kurdish: sevetalka hîndî, binerdiya hîndî
• Lao: ເຜີ່ມ ‎(phœ̄m)
• Latvian: dioskorėja f
• Lithuanian: dioskorėjos
• Luhya: enduma
• Malagasy: oviala (mg)
• Malay: ubi
• Maori: uhi, uwhi
• Mongolian: йам ‎(jam)
• Motu: maho
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: jams m

  Nynorsk: jams m

• Polish: pochrzyn m
• Portuguese: inhame (pt) m
• Romanian: ignamă (ro) f
• Russian: ямс (ru) m ‎(jams)
• Spanish: ñame (es) m
• Swahili: nduma (sw)
• Swedish: jams (sv)
• Tagalog: tugi
• Tajik: ям ‎(yam)
• Thai: มัน (th) ‎(man), สกุลกลอย ‎(sàgun gloi)
• Turkish: tatlı patates
• Uzbek: shirin kartoshka
• Vietnamese: khoai lang (vi)
• Welsh: iam m
• Yoruba: iṣu, iyán

its edible root

• Dutch: yam (nl) m, yamswortel (nl) m, jam (nl) m
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: uhi, uwhi, uwhi
• Motu: maho

• Navajo: nahooyéí
• Swahili: nduma (sw)
• Thai: มันเสา ‎(man săo), ฮ่วยซัว ‎(hûay sua)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

sweet potato — see sweet potato

potato — see potato

Etymology 2

Noun

yam ‎(plural yams)

1. (regional, Cumberland) home

Anagrams

• Amy, May, may, MYA, Mya, mya

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Buwal

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)

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Cuvok

Noun

yam

1. water

References

• ASJP
• Olga Stolbova, Chadic Lexical Database, issue II (2007): yam "water"

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɑm/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

yam m ‎(plural yams or yammen, diminutive yammetje n)

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

Synonyms

• jam
• yamswortel

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Merey

Noun

yam

1. water

References

• Richard Gravina (compiler); Alan Boydell, Elie Doumok (facilitators), Merey lexicon (2003, SIL)

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Mofu-Gudur

Noun

yam

1. water

References

• Topics in Mofu-Gudur (SIL)

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North Giziga

Noun

yam

1. water

References

• Etudes berbères et chamito-sémitiques: mélanges offerts à Karl-G. Prasse (2000, ISBN 9042908262), page 38

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South Giziga

Noun

yam

1. water

References

• Etudes berbères et chamito-sémitiques: mélanges offerts à Karl-G. Prasse (2000, ISBN 9042908262), page 38

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Zulgo-Gemzek

Noun

yam

1. water

References

• An Outline Sketch of Gemzek Grammar
• An Overview of Gemzek Narrative Discourse Features