English edit

Etymology 1 edit

From French cham, from Turkish han (lord, prince) (borrowed into Arabic, Persian, Mongolian etc.).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

cham (plural chams)

  1. Archaic spelling of khan.
    • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. [] The First Part [], 2nd edition, part 1, London: [] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, [], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
      And ſince we haue arriu’d in Scythia,
      Beſides rich preſents from the puiſant Cham,
      UUe haue his highneſſe letters to commaund
      Aide and aſſiſtance if we ſtand in need.
    • 1840, Thomas Fuller, The History of the Holy War:
      But Baiothnoi, chief captain of the Tartarian army (for they were not admitted to speak with the great cham himself), cried quits with this friar, outvying him with the greatness and divinity of their cham; and sent back by them a blunt letter []
  2. An autocrat or dominant critic, especially Samuel Johnson.
    • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon:
      Sitting at a table, drinking Ale, observing the Mist thro’ the Window-Panes, Mason forty-five, the Cham sixty-four.
    • 2007, Michael Dobson, “For his Nose was as sharpe as a Pen”, in London Review of Books, volume 29, number 9, page 3:
      The Tonsons [] would publish Johnson's Shakespeare only by subscription, obliging the Great Cham to sell copies well ahead of publication

Etymology 2 edit

See chap.

Verb edit

cham (third-person singular simple present chams, present participle chamming, simple past and past participle chammed)

  1. (obsolete) To chew.
    • 1531, William Tyndale, Answer to Sir Thomas More's Dialogue:
      But he that repenteth toward the law of God, and at the sight of the sacrament, or of the breaking, feeling, eating, chamming, or drinking, calleth to remembrance the death of Christ, his body breaking and blood shedding for our sins [...]

Etymology 3 edit

From ch- +‎ am, from ich + am.

Contraction edit

cham

  1. (West Country, obsolete) I am
Synonyms edit

References edit

  • Holloway, William (1840) A General Dictionary of Provincialisms, London: John Russell Smith, page 27

Anagrams edit

Antillean Creole edit

Etymology edit

From French charme.

Noun edit

cham

  1. potion

French edit

Etymology 1 edit

Borrowed from Vietnamese Chăm, from Eastern Cham Cam.

Adjective edit

cham (feminine chame, masculine plural chams, feminine plural chames)

  1. Cham

Noun edit

cham m (plural chams)

  1. Cham (language)

Etymology 2 edit

Borrowed from Turkish han (khan).

Noun edit

cham m (plural chams)

  1. Obsolete form of khan (khan).

Further reading edit

Irish edit

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

cham

  1. Lenited form of cam.

Macanese edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Portuguese chão (ground), inherited from Latin plānum (level ground).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /t͡ʃaŋ/, /t͡ʃɐŋ/

Noun edit

cham (plural cham-cham)

  1. ground
  2. soil
    Fu-fula semea na cham di Hong-GongFlowers picked from the soil of Hong Kong

Middle English edit

Etymology edit

See ch-.

Verb edit

cham

  1. I am

Old Irish edit

Adjective edit

cham

  1. Alternative spelling of chamm: lenited form of cam.

Polish edit

Etymology edit

From Cham.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /xam/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -am
  • Syllabification: cham
  • Homophone: Cham

Noun edit

cham m pers (female equivalent chamka or chamica)

  1. (derogatory) bumpkin, yokel (arrogant, ill-manner person; one who is uncultured and uneducated)
    Synonyms: burak, chamidło, chamisko, prostak, prymityw
  2. (archaic, derogatory) countryman, peasant (person of low birth)
    Synonyms: chłop, wieśniak

Declension edit

Derived terms edit

adjectives
nouns
verbs

Related terms edit

adverbs
nouns

Further reading edit

  • cham in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • cham in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese edit

Noun edit

cham m (plural chans)

  1. Obsolete spelling of chão

Scottish Gaelic edit

Adjective edit

cham

  1. Lenited form of cam.

Mutation edit

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical Lenition
cam cham
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Tzotzil edit

Verb edit

cham

  1. (intransitive) to die
    Synonyms: chʼay, chʼay ikʼ, laj, olan
    Icham.He/she died.
    Mu me jk'an xicham.I do not want to die.[1]

References edit

  1. ^ Laughlin, Robert M. (1977) Of cabagges and kings: tales from Zinacantán. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, p. 269.