stam

• IPA^(key): /stæm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

stam (third-person singular simple present stams, present participle stamming, simple past and past participle stammed)

1. (UK, dialect, obsolete, transitive) To confound.

stam

1. (UK, dialect, obsolete) Confusion.

• Mats, tams, amts, mats, TAMs, Mast, mast, MTAs, ATMs, AMTs, MATs, mast-, MAST, ASTM, MATS

From Dutch stam, from Middle Dutch stam, from Old Dutch *stam, from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *stamniz.

• IPA^(key): /stam/

• Audio:

  (file)

stam (plural stamme)

1. tribe

• IPA^(key): /stɑm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: stam
• Rhymes: -ɑm

From Middle Dutch stam, from Old Dutch *stam, from Proto-West Germanic *stamni, from Proto-Germanic *stamniz.

stam m (plural stammen, diminutive stammetje n)

1. trunk of a tree

   Synonym: boomstam

2. (linguistics) stem
3. tribe, clan

   Synonym: volksstam

   • 2025 March 10, Edwien Bodjie, “Bendepai-contest voor behoud Saamaka cultuur [Bendepai contest for preservation of Saamaka culture]”, in De Ware Tijd‎^[1], retrieved 7 May 2025:

     Het contest stond vooral open voor jongemannen met Saamaka roots, maar het door hen gepresenteerde geldt grotendeels ook voor andere stammen.

     The contest was mostly open to young men with Saamaka roots, but what they presented is largely applicable to other tribes as well.

4. (biology, taxonomy) phylum

   Hypernym: rijk

   Hyponym: klasse

• Afrikaans: stam
• → Papiamentu: stam

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

stam

1. inflection of stammen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

• mast, tams

From Old Norse stammr.

stam (masculine and feminine stam, neuter stamt, definite singular and plural stamme)

1. which stutters or stammers

stam m (definite singular stammen, indefinite plural stammar, definite plural stammane)

1. European chub (Squalius cephalus)

   Synonym: årbuk

• “stam” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• mast, samt, tams

From Old Swedish staffn, stampn, from Old Norse stafn. Cognate with Danish stavn.

• Audio:

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stam c

2. a trunk (of a tree)

   Synonym: trädstam

   trädets stam

   the trunk the of tree

3. a stem (of a plant, more generally – see usage notes)
4. a stem (central part from which things branch off, sometimes abstractly)
   1. (anatomy) a stem

      hjärnstammen

      the brain stem

   2. (taxonomy) a phylum
   3. (linguistics) a stem
5. a tribe

   en indianstam

   an Indian tribe

6. a population (of animals, in an area (often a country))

   den svenska vargstammen

   the Swedish wolf population

The intuition in Swedish is the opposite of that in English, with a stam normally being a tree trunk (while also being the general word for stem). A stem of a herbaceous (non-woody) plant is a stjälk (“stalk”), and only a stam in a more technical sense.

• hjärnstam
• stamcell
• stamtavla
• trädstam

• inföding
• klan
• stjälk

• stam in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• stam in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• stam in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• stam in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

• Mats, mast, mats, samt

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

stam c (plural stammen, diminutive stamke)

1. trunk of a tree
2. stem (of a plant)
3. stem (of a word)
4. family, genus
5. tribe, clan

• stamfaar

• “stam”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011