Meanings
- Place-name suffix, variously indicating a settlement, farm or enclosure.
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*hammjan“to pinch, to hem, to enclose”
- Old Englishhamm“enclosure”, often specifically “land enclosed by a river”
- Middle English-hamme
- Proto-West Germanic*haim
- Old Englishhām“home, farm, estate”
- Middle English-ham
- English-ham
From the convergence of two elements: * Middle English -ham, -hame, from Old English hām (“home, farm, estate”), from Proto-West Germanic *haim. Cognate with German -heim and Dutch -hem, and doublet of home. * Middle English -hamme, from Old English hamm (“enclosure”, often specifically “land enclosed by a river”), from the root of Proto-West Germanic *hammjan (“to pinch, to hem, to enclose”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
-ham. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ham
“-ham.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ham. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “-ham,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/-ham.
Source: -ham on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.