Etymology

diam

D2I1A1M3

Today it means: Be quiet. Full definition →

Hokkien 恬 ← Teochew 恬
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

diam · noun1

From diameter.

diam · noun2

From diamond.

diam · interjection3

  1. Teochew · borrowed from恬“silent”
  2. Hokkien · borrowed from恬“silent”
  3. English todaydiam

Unadapted borrowing from Malay diam. For some Chinese speakers, this word is reanalysed as a loan from Hokkien 恬 (tiām, “silent”) or Teochew 恬 (diam⁷, “silent”).

Words from the same roots

Hokkien恬 all →

thiam

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.