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Yam

name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
Noun
  1. 1
    Any climbing vine of the genus Dioscorea in the Eastern and Western hemispheres, usually cultivated.
  2. 2
    Home. regional
  3. 3
    edible tuberous root of various yam plants of the genus Dioscorea grown in the tropics world-wide for food wordnet
  4. 4
    The edible, starchy, tuberous root of that plant, a tropical staple food.

    "Inwardly Okonkwo knew that the boys were still too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing seed-yams. But he thought that one could not begin too early. Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed."

  5. 5
    sweet potato with deep orange flesh that remains moist when baked wordnet
Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    A sweet potato; a tuber from the species Ipomoea batatas. US
  2. 7
    any of a number of tropical vines of the genus Dioscorea many having edible tuberous roots wordnet
  3. 8
    A potato. Scotland
  4. 9
    edible tuber of any of several yams wordnet
  5. 10
    An oca; a tuber from the species Oxalis tuberosa. New-Zealand
  6. 11
    Taro. Malaysia, Singapore
  7. 12
    An orange-brown colour, like the flesh of the yam.
Verb
  1. 1
    Pronunciation spelling of am. alt-of, pronunciation-spelling

    "“Stay, jailer, stay, and hear my woe,” repeating again and again, very softly, the line at the end of each stanza, “I am not mad, I am not mad.” Except she sang it: “I yam not mad, I yam not mad.”"

  2. 2
    To eat. UK, slang

    "“If I was that snake I’d just open my jaw and yam that fool up in one bite!”"

  3. 3
    To dunk on; to beat humiliatingly. especially

    "For quotations using this term, see Citations:yam."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Portuguese inhame and Spanish ñame, likely from Wolof ñàmbi (“cassava”) or a related word. The term was spelled yam as early as 1657.

Etymology 2

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

Etymology 3

Ultimately from Fula nyaamude (“to eat”) or a cognate Fula-Wolof term.

Etymology 4

Apparently a variation of jam (“dunk”, verb).

Etymology 5

Borrowed from Cantonese 任 (jam4).

See also for "yam"

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