English

Proper noun

Ham

1. (biblical) A son of Noah and the brother of Japheth and Shem.
   • 1611 — King James Version of the Bible, Genesis 9:18

     And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.

2. Various place names, including suburbs of London (East Ham, West Ham, and between Richmond and Kingston) , a hamlet in Kent and a village in Wiltshire.

Translations

Derived terms

• Hamite
• Hamitic

Anagrams

• HMA, mah, MHA

Luxembourgish

eng Schläiss Ham

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *hammō. Cognate with Dutch ham, English ham, dialectal German Hamme.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /haːm/
  • Rhymes: -aːm

Noun

Ham f ‎(plural Hamen)

1. ham

English

A baked ham (cured thigh of hog)

Pronunciation

• enPR: hăm, IPA^(key): /hæm/
• Rhymes: -æm

Noun

ham ‎(plural hams)

1. (anatomy) The region back of the knee joint; the popliteal space; the hock.
2. (countable) A thigh and buttock of an animal slaughtered for meat.
3. (uncountable) Meat from the thigh of a hog cured for food.

   a little piece of ham for the cat

   • (Can we date this quote?), Audra Lilly Griffeth, A King's Daughter (ISBN 146915532X):

     She put some ham in the beans and cut up some sweet potatoes to boil.

4. The back of the thigh.
5. (Internet, informal) Electronic mail that is wanted; mail that is not spam or junk mail.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Old English hām.

Noun

ham ‎(uncountable)

1. Obsolete form of home.

Usage notes

• Persists in many old place names, such as Buckingham.

References

• “ham” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).

Etymology 3

Shortened from hamfatter ‎(“inferior actor”), said to derive from the 1863 minstrel show song The Ham-fat Man.^[1]

Noun

ham ‎(plural hams)

1. An overacting or amateurish performer; an actor with an especially showy or exaggerated style.
2. An amateur radio operator.

Related terms

• ham radio

Synonyms

• radio amateur (amateur radio operator)

Translations

Verb

ham ‎(third-person singular simple present hams, present participle hamming, simple past and past participle hammed)

1. To overact; to act with exaggerated emotions.

Related terms

• ham it up

Anagrams

• HMA, mah, MHA

References

1. ↑ "ham", Online Etymology Dictionary

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin hamus.

Noun

ham m ‎(plural hams)

1. fishhook

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hamr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ham/, [hɑmˀ]

Noun

ham c (singular definite hammen, plural indefinite hamme)

1. slough, skin

Derived terms

• fjederham c
• hamskifte n
• snogeham c
• svaneham c

Inflection

Etymology 2

See han.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ham/, [hɑm]

Pronoun

ham

1. (personal) objective case of han

See also

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *hamō, *hammō, *hanmō, from Proto-Indo-European *kanam-, *knāmā ‎(“thigh, shin”).

Noun

ham f ‎(plural hammen, diminutive hammetje n)

1. ham

Fiji Hindi

Etymology

From Hindi हम ‎(ham, “we, I”).

Pronoun

ham

1. I (1st person singular personal pronoun)

   Ham khelegaa!‎

   I will play!

Fyer

Etymology

Related to Gerka ram ‎(“water”).

Noun

ham

1. water

References

• Roger Blench, Ron Comparative Wordlist
• Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3: m- (2007, ISBN 9789004164123), page 201:

  […] we should carefully distinguish the following Ch. roots from AA *m-ˀ "water" [GT]:

  (1) Ch. *h-m "water" [GT]: WCh. *hama [Stl.]: AS *ham (Gmy. *hām) [GT 2004, 153] = *am [Stl. 1977] = *ham [Dlg.] = *ham [Stl. 1987]: […] Ron *ham [GT]: Fyer & Bks. & DB & Sha ham, Klr. ˀaàm […]

• Václav Blažek, A Lexicostatitical comparison of Omotic languages, in In Hot Pursuit of Language in Prehistory: Essays in the four fields of anthropology, page 122

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [haːmˠ], [hamˠ]

Noun

ham m

1. h-prothesized form of am

Middle English

Pronoun

ham

1. them

Middle French

Noun

ham m (plural hams)

1. village

Montol

Etymology

Related to Mwaghavul am ‎(“water”).

Noun

hàm

1. water

References

• Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3: m- (2007, ISBN 9789004164123), page 201:

  […] we should carefully distinguish the following Ch. roots from AA *m-ˀ "water" [GT]:

  (1) Ch. *h-m "water" [GT]: WCh. *hama [Stl.]: AS *ham (Gmy. *hām) [GT 2004, 153] = *am [Stl. 1977] = *ham [Dlg.] = *ham [Stl. 1987]: […] Tal hàm [Jng./JI], Mnt. hàm "Wasser" [Jng. 1965, 171], […]

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronoun

ham

1. him

Old English

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *hamō-. Cognate with Middle Dutch hamme (Dutch ham), Old High German hamma (dialectal German Hamm), Old Norse hǫm.

Noun

ham f

1. (anatomy) ham, inner knee

   Monegum men gescrincaþ his fet to his homme: with many men the feet shrink up to the knee. (Leechbook)

Descendants

• English ham

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *hammaz. Cognate with Old Frisian ham, Middle Low German hamme (Low German Hamm).

Noun

ham m

1. enclosure, especially an enclosed pasture or dwelling

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɑːm/

Etymology 3

From Proto-Germanic *haimaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kōim- ‎(“village”), *ḱóymos, *(t)ḱoimos. Cognate with Old Frisian hām (West Frisian hiem), Old Saxon hēm, Frankish *haim (Dutch heem), Old High German heim (German Heim), Old Norse heimr (Swedish hem, Danish hjem), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌼𐍃 ‎(haims). The Indo-European root is also the source of Greek κωμη ‎(komi), Old Irish cóim, Lithuanian šeimà, Russian семья ‎(semʹja).

Noun

hām m

1. home, house; property, estate

   Sēo Cwēn hæfþ hiere hām æt Windlesōran.

   Hælend com to Lazares ham. : The Saviour came to the home of Lazarus.

Declension

Descendants

• Middle English: home, hoom, hom, ham
  • English: home
  • Northumbrian and Scots: hame

Old French

Etymology

Of Germanic origin, probably Frankish

Noun

ham m ‎(oblique plural hans, nominative singular hans, nominative plural ham)

1. village

Derived terms

• hamelet

Rohingya

Noun

ham

1. work

Romanian

Etymology 1

From Hungarian hám.

Noun

ham n ‎(plural hamuri)

1. harness

Etymology 2

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

ham!

1. woof, the sound a barking dog makes

See also

• hau

Ron

Etymology

Related to Gerka ram ‎(“water”).

Noun

ham

1. (most dialects, including Mangar, Bokkos, Daffo-Butura, Shagawu) water

Synonyms

• àyîn (Monguna)

References

• Roger Blench, Ron Comparative Wordlist
• Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3: m- (2007, ISBN 9789004164123), page 201:

  […] we should carefully distinguish the following Ch. roots from AA *m-ˀ "water" [GT]:

  (1) Ch. *h-m "water" [GT]: WCh. *hama [Stl.]: AS *ham (Gmy. *hām) [GT 2004, 153] = *am [Stl. 1977] = *ham [Dlg.] = *ham [Stl. 1987]: […] Ron *ham [GT]: Fyer & Bks. & DB & Sha ham, Klr. ˀaàm […]

Sha

Etymology

Related to Gerka ram ‎(“water”).

Noun

ham

1. water

References

• Roger Blench, Ron Comparative Wordlist

Tal

Etymology

Related to Mwaghavul am ‎(“water”).

Noun

hàm

1. water

References

• Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3: m- (2007, ISBN 9789004164123), page 201:

  […] we should carefully distinguish the following Ch. roots from AA *m-ˀ "water" [GT]:

  (1) Ch. *h-m "water" [GT]: WCh. *hama [Stl.]: AS *ham (Gmy. *hām) [GT 2004, 153] = *am [Stl. 1977] = *ham [Dlg.] = *ham [Stl. 1987]: […] Tal hàm [Jng./JI], Mnt. hàm "Wasser" [Jng. 1965, 171], […]

Tambas

Etymology

Related to Gerka ram ‎(“water”).

Noun

ham

1. water

References

• Roger Blench, Ron Comparative Wordlist

Turkish

Etymology

From Persian خام ‎(xâm).

Adjective

ham ‎(comparative daha ham, superlative en ham)

1. raw