yam

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

English

Yams

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: yăm, 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.
6. (Malaysia, Singapore) Taro.
7. An orange-brown colour, like the flesh of the yam. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   yam colour:  

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
• yamberry

Translations

any Dioscorea vine

• Arabic: يَام‎ m (yām)
• Armenian: դիոսկոր (dioskor)
• Assamese: কাঠ আলু (kath alu)
• 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)
• Ido: inyamo (io)
• Indonesian: ubi (id)
• Italian: igname m
• 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: [Arabic needed] (sevetalka hîndî), [Arabic needed] (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 (tr)
• Uzbek: shirin kartoshka
• Vietnamese: khoai lang (vi)
• Welsh: iam m
• Yoruba: iṣu, iyán

its edible root

• Central Dusun: guol
• Dutch: yam (nl) m, yamswortel (nl) m, jam (nl) m
• Hindi: रतालू (hi) m (ratālū), आलू (hi) m (ālū)
• Irish: ionam m
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: keladi (ms)
• Maori: uhi, uwhi, ngangarangi

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

sweet potato — see sweet potato

potato — see potato

taro — see taro

Etymology 2

Alternative form of hjem. Likely caused by Old Norse influence from Old Norse heim (“home, homewards”), the accusative form of heimr (“abode, world, land”), from Proto-Germanic *haimaz. More at home.

Noun

yam (plural yams)

1. (regional, Cumberland) home

Anagrams

• Amy, MYA, May, Mya, may, mya

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Aleut

Noun

yam

1. (Eastern) yesterday

References

• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

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Buwal

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

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

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

yam

1. water

References

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

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English yam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɑm/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: yam
• Rhymes: -ɑm

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

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

yam

1. water

References

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

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Middle English

Pronoun

yam

1. (Northern, northern East Midlands) Alternative form of þem (“them”)

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Mofu-Gudur

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

yam

1. water

References

• Topics in Mofu-Gudur (SIL)

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North Giziga

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

yam

1. water

References

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

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South Giziga

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

yam

1. water

References

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

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Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English yam.

Noun

yam

1. yam

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Yimchungru Naga

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k-j(i/u)m.

Noun

yam

1. house

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Zulgo-Gemzek

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

Noun

yam

1. water

References

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