What does ham mean?
Ham most commonly means salted or cured pork, especially meat from a pig's leg. It is familiar in foods such as ham sandwiches, boiled or baked ham, and ham with eggs. The word also has two figurative uses. A 'ham' can be a performer whose acting is excessively broad, exaggerated, or theatrical, and a 'ham' can be an amateur radio operator. As a verb, 'to ham' means to overact, as in the expression 'ham it up.' These meanings can overlap when someone makes a performance soundlessly dramatic or deliberately draws attention to themselves. Ham is also the source of the familiar word 'hamstring,' although that expression developed from the older anatomical sense of the back of the knee rather than from the culinary meaning. Across its uses, the word combines a concrete food sense with informal vocabulary for conspicuous or overly theatrical performance.
Salted or cured pork, usually from a pig's leg; also an overacting performer or an amateur radio operator.
"He bought a smoked ham and a loaf of bread for lunch."
The figurative meanings are informal. The radio sense is especially associated with the expression 'ham radio.'
To overact or behave in an exaggerated, theatrical way.
"The performers began to ham it up as soon as the audience arrived."
This is informal and commonly appears in the phrasal expressions 'ham it' and 'ham it up.'
The plural refers to separate pieces or portions of ham, or to multiple items or examples of the food.
"The deli displayed several hams behind the counter."
Before it was a breakfast meat, 'ham' was anatomy: it once meant the back of the knee, a sense preserved in 'hamstring'.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does ham come from?
The culinary sense of ham entered Middle English through Anglo-French and Old French forms ultimately associated with Latin femur, meaning 'thigh'; related English words include femur, femoral, and femoralis. A separate Old English word, hamm, meant the back of the knee or the hock, and that unrelated homonym is reflected in hamstring. The two histories account for both the food term and the anatomical vocabulary associated with the word.
Related word forms
How ham is actually used
The culinary sense is standard in British and American English. The figurative sense for an overactor is informal and often mildly critical, while the radio sense is a familiar abbreviation for 'amateur radio operator.'