# yam
## Translingual
### Symbol

yam
* (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Yamba.

### See also

* Wiktionary’s coverage of Yamba terms

## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK, US) enPR: yăm, IPA: /jæm/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -æm

### 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.

#### Noun

yam (plural yams)
* Any climbing vine of the genus Dioscorea in the Eastern and Western hemispheres, usually cultivated.
* The edible, starchy, tuberous root of that plant, a tropical staple food.
** 1958, Chinua Achebe, chapter 4, in Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, published 1959, part 1, page 34: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.
* (US) A sweet potato; a tuber from the species Ipomoea batatas.
* (Scotland) A potato.
* (New Zealand) An oca; a tuber from the species Oxalis tuberosa.
* (Malaysia, Singapore) Taro.
* An orange-brown colour, like the flesh of the yam. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
    yam:

##### Usage notes

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

##### Derived terms

* aerial yam, air yam (Dioscorea bulbifera)
* afoo yam
* betel yam (Dioscorea oppositifolia)
* bitter yam (Dioscorea bulbifera, Dioscorea dumetorum)
* cheeky yam (Dioscorea bulbifera)
* Chinese yam (Dioscorea polystachya, Dioscorea oppositifolia)
* common yam (Dioscorea batatas)
* cush-cush yam (Dioscorea trifida)
* elephant foot yam
* elephant yam (Amorphophallus konjac)
* fiveleaf yam (Dioscorea pentaphylla)
* Foochow yam (Dioscorea septemloba)
* fourleaf yam (Dioscorea villosa)
* garnet yam
* greater yam (Dioscorea alata)
* Indian three-leaf yam (Dioscorea hispida)
* Indian yam (Dioscorea trifida)
* intoxicating yam (Dioscorea hispida)
* Japanese mountain yam (Dioscorea japonica)
* Japanese yam (Dioscorea japonica)
* jewel yam
* lesser yam (Dioscorea esculenta)
* Mexican yam (Dioscorea mexicana)
* mountain yam (Dioscorea japonica, Dioscorea tokoro, etc.)
* negro yam
* New Zealand yam (Oxalis tuberosa)
* Okinawan yam
* parsnip yam (Dioscorea bulbifera)
* potato yam (Dioscorea bulbifera)
* pounded yam
* purple yam (Dioscorea alata)
* seven-lobed yam (Dioscorea septemloba)
* thorny yam (Dioscorea tomentosa)
* toco for yam
* tropical yam (Dioscorea alata)
* true yam (Dioscorea spp.)
* water yam (Aponogeton spp.; Dioscorea alata)
* white yam (Dioscorea alata)
* wild yam
* winged yam (Dioscorea alata)
* yam bean
* yamberry
* yam cake
* yam daisy
* yamless
* yamlike
* yampee (Dioscorea trifida)
* yam stick
* yellow yam (Dioscorea cayenensis. Dioscorea panthaica)

##### Translations
### 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.

#### Noun

yam (plural yams)
* (regional, Cumberland) Home.

### Etymology 3
#### Verb

yam
* Pronunciation spelling of am.
** 1904, Carrie Hunt Latta, “The Last Day of Schol”, in The Reader Magazine‎, volume IV, Indianopolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, page 291:“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.”

### Etymology 4

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

#### Verb

yam (third-person singular simple present yams, present participle yamming, simple past and past participle yammed)
* (UK, slang) To eat.
** 2016, Zadie Smith, Swing Time, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 78:“If I was that snake I’d just open my jaw and yam that fool up in one bite!”

### Etymology 5

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

#### Verb

yam (third-person singular simple present yams, present participle yamming, simple past and past participle yammed)
* (especially basketball) To dunk on; to beat humiliatingly.
** For quotations using this term, see Citations:yam.

### Further reading

* “yam n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
* “yam v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present

### See also

* danger yam
* tom yam
* yam plan
* yam slam
* yam yam

### Anagrams

* Amy, MYA, May, Mya, may, mya

## Aleut
### Noun

yam
* (Eastern) yesterday

### References

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

## Azerbaijani
### Etymology

See yamçı.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

yam (definite accusative yamı, plural yamlar)
* (historical) mail staging post

#### Derived terms

* yamçı

### Further reading

* “yam” in Obastan.com.

## Beja
### Etymology

Compare Somali yumbo (“to immerge (in water)”).

### Noun

yám
* water
    Ani yam gw'an.
    I drank water.

### References

* Klaus and Charlotte Wedekind, Abuzeinab Musa, Beja Pedagogical Grammar (2005)
* Etudes berbères et chamito-sémitiques: mélanges offerts à Karl-G. Prasse (2000, →ISBN, page 38
* Václav Blažek, A Lexicostatistical comparison of Omotic languages, in In Hot Pursuit of Language in Prehistory: Essays in the four fields of anthropology, page 122

## Buwal
### Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

### Noun

yam
* 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)

## Cuvok
### Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

### Noun

yam
* water

### References

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

## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from English yam.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /jɑm/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: yam
* Rhymes: -ɑm

### Noun

yam m (plural yams or yammen, diminutive yammetje n)
* yam, a tropical vine
* its edible root

#### Synonyms

* jam
* yamswortel

## Merey
### Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

### Noun

yam
* water

### References

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

## Middle English
### Pronoun

yam
* (Northern, northern East Midlands) Alternative form of þem (“them”)

## Mofu-Gudur
### Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

### Noun

yam
* water

### References

* Topics in Mofu-Gudur (SIL)

## North Giziga
### Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

### Noun

yam
* water

### References

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

## Pnar
### Etymology

From Proto-Khasian *jaːm, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *jaam. Cognate with Khasi ïam, Blang jàm, Khmu [Cuang] jaːm, Mang ɲaːm¹, Mon ယာံ, Khmer យំ (yum).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /jam/

### Verb

yam
* to cry, to weep

## South Giziga
### Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

### Noun

yam
* water

### References

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

## Tok Pisin
### Etymology

From English yam.

### Noun

yam
* yam

## Yimchungru Naga
### Etymology

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

### Noun

yam
* house

## Zulgo-Gemzek
### Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Chadic *ymn.

### Noun

yam
* water

### References

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