different between oof vs ham

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /u?f/, /?f/
• (General American) enPR: ?f, IPA^(key): /uf/
• Rhymes: -u?f, -?f

Etymology 1

An onomatopoeia. Similar to Dutch oef and German uff.The verb sense is from a sound effect used in point-of-view video games when a character dies.

Interjection

oof

1. (onomatopoeia) A sound mimicking the loss of air, as if someone's solar plexus had just been struck.
2. (slang) Synonym of ouch (“expressing sympathy at another's pain, shock at a high price, etc.”)

Noun

oof (plural oofs)

1. A sound made in pain, as when expelling air after being struck.

Verb

oof (third-person singular simple present oofs, present participle oofing, simple past and past participle oofed)

1. (video games, ergative) to kill.

Etymology 2

Clipping of ooftish

Noun

oof (uncountable)

1. (Britain, slang, dated) Money. [c. 1850 – c. 1940]
   • 1888, H. Rider Haggard, Colonel Quaritch V.C. (archive.org ebook), page 232:

     “Oh,” Johnnie was saying, “so Quest is his name, is it, and he lives in a city called Boisingham, does he? Is he an oof bird?” (rich)
     “Rather,” answered the Tiger, “if only one can make the dollars run, but he's a nasty mean boy, he is.

   • 1900, Harry B. Norris, Burlington Bertie (song)

     Burlington Bertie's the latest young jay
     He rents a swell flat somewhere Kensington way
     He spends the good oof that his pater has made
     Along with the Brandy and Soda Brigade.

   • 1911–1912, published 1916, Gilbert Parker, The World For Sale, book 2, chapter 10 (Gutenberg ebook, archive.org ebook):

     What's he after? Oof—oof—oof, that's what he's after. He's for his own pocket, he's for being boss of all the woolly West. He's after keeping us poor and making himself rich.

   • 1991 May 12, "Kidnapped!" Jeeves and Wooster, Series 2, Episode 5:

     Chuffy: It's on a knife edge at the moment, Bertie. If he can get planning permission, old Stoker's going to take this heap off my hands in return for vast amounts of oof.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:money

Derived terms

• feathered oof-bird (“large source of money”)
• make the oof-bird walk (“to circulate money”)
• oof-bag (“source of money”)
• oof-bird (“source of money”)
• oofless (“poor”)
• oofy (“rich”)
• pad the oof (“to fold banknotes to appear twice as much”)

References

• Farmer, John Stephen (1902) Slang and Its Analogues?^[1], volume 5, page 107
• “oof”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• Foo, foo, foo'

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English hamme, from Old English hamm (“inner or hind part of the knee, ham”), from Proto-Germanic *ham?, *hamm?, *hanm?, from Proto-Indo-European *kónh?m (“leg”). Cognate with Dutch ham (“ham”), dialectal German Hamme (“hind part of the knee, ham”), dialectal Swedish ham (“the hind part of the knee”), Icelandic höm (“the ham or haunch of a horse”), Old Irish cnáim (“bone”), Ancient Greek ????? (kn?m?, “shinbone”). Compare gammon.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) enPR: h?m, IPA^(key): /?hæm/
• (Southern England, General Australian) IPA^(key): /?hæ?m/
• Rhymes: -æm

Noun

ham (countable and uncountable, plural hams)

2. (anatomy) The region back of the knee joint; the popliteal space; the hock.
3. (countable) A thigh and buttock of an animal slaughtered for meat.
4. (uncountable) Meat from the thigh of a hog cured for food.
5. The back of the thigh.
6. (Internet, informal, uncommon) Electronic mail that is wanted; mail that is not spam or junk mail.

   Antonym: spam

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Old English h?m.

Noun

ham (uncountable)

1. Obsolete form of home.

Usage notes

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

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “ham”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Etymology 3

Of uncertain origin, though it is generally agreed upon that it first appeared in print around the 1880s. At least four theories persist:

• It came naturally from the word amateur. Deemed likely by Hendrickson (1997), but then the question would be why it took so long to pop up. He rejects the folk etymology of Cockney slang hamateur because it originated in American English.
• From the play Hamlet, where the title character was often played poorly and/or in an exaggerated manner. Also deemed likely by Hendrickson, though he raises the issue that the term would have likely been around earlier if this were case.
• From the minstrel's practice of using ham fat to remove heavy black makeup used during performances.
• Shortened from hamfatter (“inferior actor”), said to derive from the 1863 minstrel show song The Ham-fat Man. William and Mary Morris (1988) argue that it's not known whether the song inspired the term or the term inspired the song, but that they believe the latter is the case.

Noun

ham (plural hams)

1. (acting) An overacting or amateurish performer; an actor with an especially showy or exaggerated style.

   Synonyms: hambone, hamfatter, overactor, tear-cat

2. (radio) An amateur radio operator.

   Synonym: radio amateur

Derived terms

• ham-fisted
• ham radio

Translations

Verb

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

1. (acting) To overact; to act with exaggerated emotions.

Synonyms

• chew the scenery, ham it up, melodramatize, overact, tear a cat

References

Anagrams

• HMA, MHA, Mah, mah

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch ham, from Middle Dutch hamme, from Old Dutch [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *hamm?, from Proto-Indo-European *kónh?m (“leg”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?am/
• Hyphenation: ham

Noun

ham (plural hamme, diminutive hammetjie)

1. ham (cured pork from the thigh of a swine)

Caribbean Hindustani

Etymology

Compare Hindi ?? (ham, “we”).

Pronoun

ham

1. I

References

• Beknopt Nederland-Sarnami Woordenboek met Sarnami Hindoestani-Nederlanse Woordenlijst?^[1] (in Dutch), Paramaribo: Instituut voor Taalwetenschap, 2002

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin hamus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?am/

Noun

ham m (plural hams)

1. fishhook

Further reading

• “ham” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Cebuano

Etymology

From English ham, from Middle English hamme, from Old English hamm (“inner or hind part of the knee, ham”), from Proto-Germanic *ham?, *hamm?, *hanm?, from Proto-Indo-European *kónh?m (“leg”).

Noun

ham

1. ham; meat from the thigh of a hog cured for food

Chamorro

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami. Cognates include Indonesian kami and Tagalog kami.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hæm/

Pronoun

ham

1. we, us (exclusive)

Usage notes

• ham is used either as a subject of an intransitive verb or as an object of a transitive verb, while in is used as a subject of a transitive verb.

• In transitive clauses with an indefinite object, ham can be used as a subject.

See also

References

• Donald M. Topping (1973) Chamorro Reference Grammar?^[2], Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hamr, Proto-Germanic *hamaz, *hamô

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?h?m?]

Noun

ham c (singular definite hammen, plural indefinite hamme)

1. slough, skin

Declension

Derived terms

• dyreham
• fjederham
• fugleham
• hamskifte, hamskifter
• slangeham
• snogeham
• svaneham

Etymology 2

Older hannem, from Old Norse h?num, the dative of hann (“he”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?h?m]

Pronoun

ham

1. (personal) him: objective of han

See also

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch hamme, from Old Dutch [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *hamm?, from Proto-Indo-European *kónh?m (“leg”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??m/
• Hyphenation: ham
• Rhymes: -?m

Noun

ham f (plural hammen, diminutive hammetje n)

1. ham (cured pork from the thigh of a swine)

Derived terms

• beenham
• schouderham

Fiji Hindi

Etymology

From Hindi ?? (ham, “we, I”).

Pronoun

ham

1. I (1st person singular personal pronoun)

Fyer

Etymology

Related to Gerka ram (“water”).

Noun

ham

1. water

References

• Roger Blench, Ron Comparative Wordlist
• Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, ?ISBN, page 201:

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

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

• Václav Blažek, A Lexicostatistical 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): [ha?m?], [ham?]

Noun

ham m

1. h-prothesized form of am

Middle English

Etymology 1

Pronoun

ham

1. Alternative form of hem (“them”)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h??m/

Noun

ham (plural hamen or hames)

1. (Early Middle English, Northern) Alternative form of hom (“home”)

Etymology 3

Noun

ham (plural hames)

1. Alternative form of hamme (“back of the knee”)

Etymology 4

Noun

ham (plural hames)

1. Alternative form of hamme (“pasture”)

Middle French

Noun

ham m (plural hams)

1. village

Montol

Etymology

Related to Mwaghavul am (“water”).

Noun

hàm

1. water

References

• Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, ?ISBN, page 201:

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

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

North Frisian

Pronoun

ham

1. him third-person singular, masculine, objective
2. it third-person singular, neuter, objective

Alternative forms

• höm (Sylt)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hann.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h?m/

Pronoun

ham

1. him

See also

Etymology 2

From Old Norse hamr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h??m/

Noun

ham m (definite singular hammen, indefinite plural hammer, definite plural hammene)

1. skin or slough (discarded skin of certain animals)

Derived terms

• hamlet
• hamskifte

References

• “ham” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “ham_1” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
• “ham_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse hamr

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h??m/

Noun

ham m (definite singular hamen, indefinite plural hamar, definite plural hamane)

1. skin or slough (discarded skin of certain animals)

Derived terms

• hamlet
• hamskifte

References

• “ham” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *haimaz, from Proto-Indo-European *k?im- (“village”), *?óymos, *(t)?oimos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /x??m/, [h??m]

Noun

h?m m

1. home, house

2. property, estate, farm
3. village; community

Usage notes

• In early Old English, the dative singular was always h?m, not the expected form h?me.

Declension

Derived terms

• h?ml?as

Descendants

• Middle English: hom
  • English: home, -ham (partially)
  • Northumbrian: hyem
  • Scots: hame
  • Yola: hime, hyme

Adverb

h?m

1. home, homeward

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /x?m/, [h?m]

Noun

ham m

1. Alternative form of hamm (“enclosure”)

Etymology 3

From Proto-Germanic *hamm?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /x?m/, [h?m]

Noun

ham f

1. Alternative form of hamm (“inner knee”)

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Frankish *haim (“home, village”).

Noun

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

1. village

Descendants

• Walloon: hamea, amia, hamia
• Walloon: hamtea, hametê, hamtia, amtia
• ? Old French: hamel
  • Middle French: hamel
    • French: hameau
  • Walloon: hamô
  • ? Middle English: hamel
  • ? Old French: hamelet, hamlet
    • Middle French: hamelet
    • ? Middle English: hamelet, hamlet
      • English: hamlet
      • Early Scots: hamillet, hamlet, hamelat, hamelet

Old Frisian

Alternative forms

• h?m

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *haim. Cognates include Old English h?m and Old Saxon h?m.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ha?m/

Noun

h?m m

1. home

Descendants

• North Frisian: hamm
• Saterland Frisian: Heem
• West Frisian: hiem

References

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, ?ISBN, page 28

Rohingya

Noun

ham

1. work

Derived terms

• hammwa
• kuham

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ham/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Hungarian hám.

Noun

ham n (plural hamuri)

1. harness

Derived terms

• înh?ma

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
• Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, ?ISBN, page 201:

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

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

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• ?m

Etymology

A loan from Hungarian hám.

Noun

h?m m (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. harness

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

• Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, ?ISBN, page 201:

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

  (1) Ch. *h-m "water" [GT]: WCh. *hama [Stl.]: AS *ham (Gmy. *h?m) [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 ???? (xâm).

Adjective

ham (comparative daha ham, superlative en ham)

1. raw

Vietnamese

Etymology

Pronunciation

• (Hà N?i) IPA^(key): [ha?m??]
• (Hu?) IPA^(key): [ha?m??]
• (H? Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ha?m??]

Adjective

ham • (????, ????)

1. greedy
2. eager; keen

Derived terms

West Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

ham c (plural hammen, diminutive hamke)

1. ham

Further reading

• “ham (II)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011