cham

1 of 4

transitive verb

ˈcham

chammed; chammed; chamming; chams

dialectal, England

: chew, bite

cham

2 of 4

variant of khan:1

cham

3 of 4

chəm,

(¦)cham

dialectal, England

: I am

Cham

4 of 4

noun

ˈchäm

variants or Chiam

ˈchēˌäm

plural Cham or Chams or Chiam or Chiams

1

a

: a people of an ancient kingdom in the central coastal part of Annam that reached its peak of power in the 7th and 8th centuries and was absorbed by Annam in 1471

b

: a member of such people

2

a(1)

: a people in central coastal Annam linguistically related to the Cambodians

(2)

: a member of such people

b

: the language of the Cham people

Word History

Etymology

Transitive verb

Middle English chammen, perhaps of imitative origin

alteration of Middle English ich am

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