ham

Meanings

Plural: hams

Noun

meat cut from the thigh of a hog (usually smoked)
(Old Testament) son of Noah
a licensed amateur radio operator
an unskilled actor who overacts
The region back of the knee joint; the popliteal space; the hock.
A thigh and/or buttock of a hog slaughtered for meat; (occasionally) the corresponding cut from some other animal.
Meat from the thigh and/or buttock of a hog cured for food.
The back of the thigh of humans or certain other animals.
Electronic mail that is wanted; email that is not spam or junk mail.
Obsolete form of home.
An overacting or amateurish performer; an actor with an especially showy or exaggerated style.
An amateur radio operator.

Verb

exaggerate one's acting
To overact; to act with exaggerated emotions.

Origin / Etymology

Inherited from Middle English hamme, from Old English hamm (“inner or hind part of the knee, ham”), from Proto-West Germanic *hammu, from Proto-Germanic *hamō, *hammō, *hanmō, from Proto-Indo-European *kónh₂m (“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 κνήμη (knḗmē, “shinbone”). Compare gammon and gam.

Synonyms

chew the scenery, gammon, ham actor, ham e-mail, ham it up, hambone, hamfatter, jambon, melodramatize, overact, overactor, overplay, radio amateur, tear a cat, tear-cat

Antonyms

junk mail, spam, underact

Scrabble Score: 8

ham is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
ham is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
ham is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 8

ham is a valid Words With Friends word