yam

IPA/jæm/
KK[jˈæm]IPA/jæm/

yam — noun

  • yamsingular
  • yamsplural

1. a long, starchy root that grows underground from a climbing tropical plant; peop

1.nounB1
Definition

a long, starchy root that grows underground from a climbing tropical plant; people in many warm countries boil, fry, or pound it as a main food.

Example

Hassan bought three large yams at the market in Lagos for tonight's stew.

countable: a yam / three yams

In many West African villages, pounded yam is served with hot pepper soup.

collocation: pounded yam

Common collocations
  • pounded yam
  • boiled yam
  • fried yam
  • yam flour
  • yam tuber
Synonyms
  • Dioscorea

    scientific genus name; technical, not used in everyday speech

Grammar Patterns

a yam / yams (countable)

boiled yam (uncountable food noun)

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 2: in West African, Caribbean, and British English, 'yam' refers to this Dioscorea root with rough brown skin and white or pale flesh; sense 2 is a North American usage applied to a different plant.

Common Mistakes

I planted yams in a small flower pot on my balcony.
Yams need deep soil and a long warm season, so they are grown in fields, not pots.
yams are large tropical field crops, not houseplants.

2. in casual American usage, the orange-fleshed kind of sweet potato — soft, sweet,

2.nounB1
Definition

in casual American usage, the orange-fleshed kind of sweet potato — soft, sweet, and slightly sticky after baking or roasting.

Example

Christopher bakes candied yams with brown sugar and butter every Thanksgiving.

collocation: candied yams (US holiday dish)

At the supermarket in Atlanta, the orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are simply labeled 'yams.'

informal American labeling

Common collocations
  • candied yams
  • mashed yams
  • roasted yams
  • baked yam
Synonyms
  • sweet potato

    the standard name everywhere outside the US; refers to the same vegetable

  • candied yam

    the cooked dish, not a separate plant

Grammar Patterns

mainly North American usage

Usage Note

This is a North American naming habit only — botanically these are sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas), unrelated to true yams in sense 1. Outside the US, calling a sweet potato 'yam' will usually confuse people.

Common Mistakes

I asked the British grocer for yams and got the wrong vegetable.
I asked the British grocer for sweet potatoes and got the right vegetable.
outside the US, 'yam' means the tropical root in sense 1, not a sweet potato.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Yam, sweet potato, taro, and cassava are all starchy tropical roots that look superficially similar but come from different plants. Yam (Dioscorea) has rough, dark brown bark-like skin and white, purple, or pale yellow flesh; it is a staple across West Africa and the Caribbean and is usually boiled or pounded. Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) has smoother skin and orange or pale flesh, with a naturally sweet taste; in the US it is often called a 'yam,' which can confuse shoppers elsewhere. Taro (Colocasia) has shaggy brown skin and a slightly sticky purple-flecked flesh, common in Pacific and East Asian cooking. Cassava (Manihot) is long and thin with a waxy brown peel and bland white flesh, the source of tapioca. When ordering food, naming the dish (e.g. 'pounded yam,' 'candied yams,' 'taro bubble tea') usually avoids confusion.

yam ↗sweet potato ↗taro ↗cassava

Common collocations

Nouns

  • yam tuber
  • yam flour
  • yam harvest
  • yam farmer

Adverbs

Phrases

  • pile of yams
  • bag of yams
  • slice of yam

Prepositions

Etymology

Niger-Congo (West African)PortugueseSpanishEnglish

English borrowed 'yam' in the 1500s through Portuguese 'inhame' and Spanish 'ñame', terms the Portuguese picked up on the West African coast. The ultimate source is a Niger-Congo word along the lines of Fulani 'nyami' or Twi 'anyinam', tied to a root meaning 'to eat' — fitting for a vegetable that has been a staple food in West Africa for thousands of years. As European traders carried the crop to the Caribbean and the Americas, the name traveled with it.