noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Fasting, abstention, abstinence; the third of the five pillars of Islam. uncountable
2. 2
   the third pillar of Islam is fasting (primarily during the month of Ramadan); Muslims abstain from food and drink and gambling and all sensuous pleasures from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan wordnet

Etymology

From Arabic صَوْم (ṣawm, “fasting; abstaining from food, drink, and sex”), probably borrowed from Classical Syriac ܨܘܡܐ (ṣawmāʾ).

Related phrases

five pillarsyom kippur

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.