The word yam is ultimately derived, via Portuguese or Spanish, from a West African language called Wolof, from the word nyam, meaning “to sample” or “taste.” Similar words for yam in other African languages derive from words meaning “to eat” and “to chew.”
What language is the word yam from?
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.
Is yam an African word?
The word yam comes from the African words “njam”, “nyami, or “djambi”, meaning “to eat”.
What nationality is yam?
Yam is a common last name found among Overseas Chinese communities around the world. In fact, “Yam” is the transliteration of several different Chinese surnames. Its meaning varies depending on how it is spelled in Chinese, and which dialect it is pronounced in.
What is yam called in English?
A yam is a root vegetable which is like a potato, and grows in tropical regions. 2. variable noun. Yams are the same as sweet potatoes. [US]
What does yam mean in slang?
What does YAM stand for?
| Rank Abbr. | Meaning |
|---|---|
| YAM | You Are Mine |
| YAM | Yelling at Me |
| YAM | Yet Another Modem |
| YAM | Yet Another Meeting |
Is yam a real word?
Yes, yam is in the scrabble dictionary.
Who brought yam to Africa?
After having been brought into cultivation, this species of yam was carried by man far out into the Pacific by the Polynesian migration, which probably originated in southern China and Indochina about 3500 B.P. (Suggs 1960), and later, around 2000 B.P. or more recently, to Madagascar and the East African littoral.
Why is a yam called a yam?
It seems that American slaves referred to the soft orange-fleshed sweet potatoes as “yams” because of their similarity to the true yams they knew from Africa. Growers began using this name to distinguish them from the firm white-fleshed varieties of sweet potatoes, and the name stuck.
What is Nigerian yam?
Yam is in the class of roots and tubers that is a staple of the Nigerian and West African diet, which provides some 200 calories of energy per capital daily. In Nigeria, in many yam-producing areas, it is said that “yam is food and food is yam”.
What is a yam UK?
The American yam is not commonly found in the UK, yet the term is often used in the US to refer to what the British call a sweet potato; the Brits eat theirs roasted (as they do most things) and have not yet warmed to the American dish of “marshmallow yams.”
Can dogs eat yam?
First, dogs can safely eat sweet potatoes or yams. If you see yams in the grocery store, these might not be “true” yams, but a soft variety of sweet potato that was conveniently called a yam to differentiate it from firm sweet potatoes.
What are yams in America?
In America, yams are actually a type of sweet potato. Gingersnap cookies and marshmallows make this dish a real treat.
What is yam in Swahili?
nduma. So, this is how you say “yam” in swahili.
What is another name for yam?
What is another word for yam?
| sweet potato | batata |
|---|---|
| camote | Ipomoea |
| kumara |
Is a yam and a sweet potato the same thing?
Yes, all so-called “yams” are in fact sweetpotatoes. Most people think that long, red-skinned sweetpotatoes are yams, but they really are just one of many varieties of sweetpotatoes.
What does yams mean on a girl?
slang She has large buttocks.
What does the yam emoji mean?
Roasted Sweet Potato
17) Roasted Sweet Potato. I was pretty sure this was a sweet potato when I saw it, but I was unaware of its status as roasted. More importantly, Emojipedia says this “Sweet potato emoji” is also known as the “Yam emoji” — oh boy.
Why are legs called yams?
For clarity: “Yams” are a specific potato that is shaped roughly similar to a human leg (feminine). The slang was used predominantly in the 1940s to 1960s to describe an attractive woman’s legs.
What does yam mean in Hebrew?
sea
The Hebrew word yam means ‘sea‘, and the word suph by itself means ‘reed’, e.g. in Exodus 2:3; hence, a literal translation of yam suph—with the two words combined in construct state—yields ‘sea of reeds’.
What does yams mean in rap?
That site lists a number of alternate, street-level definitions for “yams,” including the hips and thighs of a voluptuous woman (Clinton does have a well-documented weakness for those) and the orange-colored balloons wrapped around small amounts of cocaine and heroin, a common use of the term in hip-hop. (
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