yam
\jam\
The verdict
“yam” is uncommon French (frequency #55,003 among 5,604 “Y” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #55,003
- frequency rank, French
- 5,604
- “Y” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Nom donné, en Nouvelle-Guinée, à une racine analogue à la pomme de terre, igname.
Corpus desk
Index FR-yam · yam · French
yam · rank #55,003 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #55,003
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,604
- PHOTO-FINISH zoologiques
Nearest frequency peer: zoologiques (+1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “yam”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Wilders
Wilders
45,003 corpus weight
- wons
wons
45,000 corpus weight
- yam
yam
44,998 corpus weight
- zoologiques
zoologiques
44,997 corpus weight
- échalotes
échalotes
44,995 corpus weight
- échelonnent
échelonnent
44,994 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “yam” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | yam |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \jam\ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #55,003 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “yam” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
yam is uncommon French at frequency #55,003 among 5,604 “Y” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \jam\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Nom donné, en Nouvelle-Guinée, à une racine analogue à la pomme de terre, igname.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for yam, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is yam, spelled Y-A-M.
Definition
- 1Nom donné, en Nouvelle-Guinée, à une racine analogue à la pomme de terre, igname.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how yam appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Entre leurs plantations d’hévéas et de poivriers, les hameaux se blottissent derrière les gigantesques feuilles du yam, les bosquets de bambous et de cocotiers, fumeux, vaporeux, où éclate la subite fanfare écarlate du bananier sauvage en fleur.
Les indigènes donnèrent des marques de confiance en venant à bord et en cédant leurs yams en échange d’autres objets.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "yam", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.