# tame

> English word · Adjective · IPA /teɪm/ · frequency rank #13,822

## Definitions
1. Accustomed to human contact.
2. Docile or tranquil towards humans.
3. Of a person, well-behaved; not radical or extreme.
4. Of a non-Westernised person, accustomed to European society.
5. Not exciting.
6. Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless.
7. Capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.

## Etymology
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”).
Cognate with Scots tam, tame (“tame”), Saterland Frisian tom (“tame”), West Frisian tam (“tame”), Dutch tam (“tame”), Low German Low German tamm, tahm (“tame”), German zahm (“tame”), Danish tam (“tame”), Swedish tam (“tame”), Icelandic tamur (“tame”).
The verb is from Middle English tamen, temen, temien, from Old English temian (“to tame”), from Proto-West Germanic *tammjan, from Proto-Germanic *tamjaną (“to tame”).

## Easily confused with
- **te** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-te)
- **TM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tm)
- **the** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-the)
- **tax** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tax)
- **tom** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tom)
- **tie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tie)
- **Tim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tim)
- **tap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tap)
- **toe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-toe)
- **tan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tan)
- **tee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tee)
- **tar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tar)
- **tao** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tao)
- **tat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tat)
- **tau** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tau)
- **Tue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tue)
- **tay** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tay)
- **TMZ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tmz)
- **tre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tre)
- **tum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tame-vs-tum)

## Common misspellings (4)
`atme`, `tamme`, `tmae`, `ttame`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/tame