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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

yam

/jæm/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:39
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What does yam mean?

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. A sweet potato; a tuber from the species Ipomoea batatas.
More meanings (9)

noun

  1. A potato.
  2. An oca; a tuber from the species Oxalis tuberosa.
  3. Taro.
  4. An orange-brown colour, like the flesh of the yam.
  5. Home.

verb

  1. Pronunciation spelling of am.
  2. (slang) To eat.
  3. To dunk on; to beat humiliatingly.

proper noun

  1. A surname.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/jæm/

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

Next came a huge figure to him, having in its hand a gunnai or yam stick.
K. Langloh (Katie Langloh) ParkerThe Euahlayi Tribe: A Study of Aboriginal Life in AustraliaProject Gutenberg ebook #3819
The English name was borrowed from the Spanish "patata", which was itself borrowed from a native word for the "yam" in the dialect of Hayti.
A. C. (Albert Charles) SewardDarwin and Modern ScienceProject Gutenberg ebook #1909
More book examples (2)
One variety is to hang up at the edge of a PADI field a yam or other root covered with projecting spikes of bamboo cane.
Charles Hose; William McDougallThe Pagan Tribes of Borneo A Description of Their Physical Moral and Intellectual Condition, with Some Discussion of Their Ethnic RelationsProject Gutenberg ebook #3307
This core was served with hemp saturated in a preservative solution, and on the hemp as a padding were spirally wound eighteen single wires of soft steel, each covered with fine strands of Manilla yam steeped in the preservative.
John MunroHeroes of the TelegraphProject Gutenberg ebook #979