yam

Etymology 1

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

noun

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) A 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.
   yam:

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

1. (regional, Cumberland) Home.

Etymology 3

verb

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

Etymology 4

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

verb

1. (UK, nonstandard, slang) To eat.

Etymology 5

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

verb

1. (especially basketball) To dunk on; to beat humiliatingly.
   For quotations using this term, see Citations:yam.