-ham

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ham"

English

Etymology

From the convergence of two elements:

• Middle English -ham, -hame, from Old English hām (“home, farm, estate”), from Proto-West Germanic *haim. Cognate with German -heim and Dutch -hem, and doublet of home.
• Middle English -hamme, from Old English hamm (“enclosure”, often specifically “land enclosed by a river”), from the root of Proto-West Germanic *hammjan (“to pinch, to hem, to enclose”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): (always unstressed) /əm/, /həm/
• (US) IPA^(key): (with secondary stress) /ˌhæm/, (unstressed) /həm/

This suffix often triggers a spelling pronunciation, especially after -t, as in town names like Grantham. When this happens, the /h/ in -ham is no longer pronounced.

Suffix

-ham

1. Place-name suffix, variously indicating a settlement, farm or enclosure.

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -ham

Related terms

• -hampton
• -hamsted, -hamstead, -hampstead (compare also homestead)

Further reading

• Key to English Place-names (2005), Institute for Name Studies, University of Nottingham.