jam
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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3 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "jam", 3-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "jam" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "jam" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
jam is aEnglishnoun. It means: A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts Pronounced /ˈd͡ʒæm/. It ranks #5,426 in English word frequency. Often confused with Jr and jo.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | jam |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈd͡ʒæm/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #5,426 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for jam is 3 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈd͡ʒæm/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,426 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 16 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for jam in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Jr", "jo", "JI", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: First attested in the early 18th c. as a verb meaning “to press, be pressed, be wedged in”. Compare dialectal jammock (“to press, squeeze, crush into a soft mass, chew food"; also "a soft, pulpy substance”). Perhaps from Middle English chammen, champen ("to… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is jam, spelled J-A-M, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts
- 2A difficult situation.
- 3A difficult situation.
- 4A blockage, congestion, or immobilization.
- 5An informal, impromptu performance or rehearsal.
- 6A song; a track.
- 7An informal event where people brainstorm and collaborate on projects.
- 8That which one particularly prefers, desires, enjoys, or cares about.
- 9A forceful dunk.
- 10A play during which points can be scored.
- 11Any of several manoeuvres requiring wedging of an extremity into a tight space.
- 12The tree Acacia acuminata, with fruity-smelling hard timber.
- 13Luck.
- 14Balls, bollocks, courage, machismo.
- 15Sexual relations or the contemplation of them.
- 16Something enjoyable; a delightful situation or outcome.
Etymology
First attested in the early 18th c. as a verb meaning “to press, be pressed, be wedged in”. Compare dialectal jammock (“to press, squeeze, crush into a soft mass, chew food"; also "a soft, pulpy substance”). Perhaps from Middle English chammen, champen ("to bite upon something, gnash the teeth"; whence modern champ, chomp), of uncertain origin; probably originally onomatopoeic. The "performance" sense is first attested with regards to jazz in 1929, and its origin, though uncertain, is likely metaphorical, "something sweet made by the combination of many things", with influence from jamboree.
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #5,426 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter J in our English index: