tame
/teɪm/adjective, verb
tame is spelled T-A-M-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, tame means “Under human control” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in tame?
| Letters | 4: T-A-M-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.6 times per million words; the 13,695th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is tame?
Tame appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce tame?
- /teɪm/
Tame has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-tame.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with tame?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tame.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: team, meat, mate, meta.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of tame
- tamer comparative
- tamest superlative
- tames present, singular, he/she/it
- taming participle, present
- tamed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tame mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Under human control.
- 2
Docile or tranquil towards humans.
The lion was quite tame.
- 3
Of a person, well-behaved; not radical or extreme.
- 4
obsoleteOf a non-Westernised person, accustomed to European society.
- 5
Not exciting.
This party is too tame for me.
- 6
Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless.
- 7
Capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.
verb
- 1
To make or become tame; to domesticate (an animal).
He tamed the wild horse.
- 2
To make submissive.
The governor tames the engine.
- 3
To take control of something that is unruly.
Police have to tame the riots.
- 4
UKobsoleteTo broach or enter upon; to taste, as a liquor; to divide; to distribute; to deal out.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tame in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | apprivoisé , apprivoiser, domestiquer, dompter |
| German | zahm , zähmen , zahm werden |
| Portuguese | domesticado , domar , ser domado, domar-se |
| Spanish | manso , amansar, domar, domeñar , insulso, soso |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does tame come from?
From Middle English tame, tome, weak inflection forms of Middle English tam, tom, from Old English tam, tom (“domesticated, tame”), from Proto-West Germanic *tam (“tame”), from Proto-Germanic *tamaz (“brought into the home, tame”), from Proto-Indo-European *demh₂- (“to tame, dominate”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).