Where does “yam” come from?

Yam comes from Portuguese inhame, borrowed from Wolof ñàmbi, a word for the starchy root vegetable.

yam (English): Any climbing vine of the genus "Dioscorea" in the...

Definitions

  1. Any climbing vine of the genus "Dioscorea" in the...

Ancestry of “yam”, step by step

yam traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Portuguese inhame

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Portugueseinhameyam
2Fulanyamito eat

via Spanish ñame

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Spanishñameyam
Every word from Fula nyami →Every word from Portuguese inhame →