Word Study
yam
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun yam has 4 senses
- yam(n = noun.plant) Array - edible tuber of any of several yams; Array is a part of yam, yam plant
- yam(n = noun.plant) yam plant - any of a number of tropical vines of the genus Dioscorea many having edible tuberous roots; Array is a member of dioscorea, genus dioscorea
- yam(n = noun.food) Array - sweet potato with deep orange flesh that remains moist when baked; Array is a kind of sweet potato
- yam(n = noun.food) Array - edible tuberous root of various yam plants of the genus Dioscorea grown in the tropics world-wide for food; Array is a kind of root vegetable
is a kind of tuber
has parts: yam
has particulars: dioscorea alata, water yam, white yam, chinese yam, cinnamon vine, dioscorea batata, air potato, dioscorea bulbifera, cush-cush, dioscorea trifida
is a kind of vine
CIDE DICTIONARY
yam, n. [Pg. inhame, probably from some native name.].
- A large, esculent, farinaceous tuber of various climbing plants of the genus
Dioscorea ; also, the plants themselves. Mostly natives of warm climates. The plants have netted-veined, petioled leaves, and pods with three broad wings. The commonest species isDioscorea sativa , but several others are cultivated. [1913 Webster] - Any one of several cultural varieties of the sweet potato. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
yam, n.
1 a any tropical or subtropical climbing plant of the genus Dioscorea. b the edible starchy tuber of this.
2 US a sweet potato.
1 a any tropical or subtropical climbing plant of the genus Dioscorea. b the edible starchy tuber of this.
2 US a sweet potato.
Etymology
Port. inhame or Sp. i{ntilde}ame, of unkn. orig.
ROGET THESAURUS
yam
Vegetable
N vegetable, vegetable kingdom, flora, verdure, plant, tree, shrub, bush, creeper, herb, herbage, grass, annual, perennial, biennial, triennial, exotic, timber, forest, wood, woodlands, timberland, hurst, frith, holt, weald, park, chase, greenwood, brake, grove, copse, coppice, bocage, tope, clump of trees, thicket, spinet, spinney, underwood, brushwood, scrub, boscage, bosk, ceja, chaparal, motte, arboretum, bush, jungle, prairie, heath, heather, fern, bracken, furze, gorse, whin, grass, turf, pasture, pasturage, turbary, sedge, rush, weed, fungus, mushroom, toadstool, lichen, moss, conferva, mold, growth, alfalfa, alfilaria, banyan, blow, blowth, floret, petiole, pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia, foliage, branch, bough, ramage, stem, tigella, spray, leaf, flower, blossom, bine, flowering plant, timber tree, fruit tree, pulse, legume, vegetable, vegetal, vegetive, vegitous, herbaceous, herbal, botanic, sylvan, silvan, arborary, arboreous, arborescent, arborical, woody, grassy, verdant, verdurous, floral, mossy, lignous, ligneous, wooden, leguminous, vosky, cespitose, turf-like, turfy, endogenous, exogenous, green-robed senators of mighty woods, this is the forest primeval.
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