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Glite Dictionary
Virginia ham

Virginia ham

1 3.7
A lean dry-cured ham from Virginia with a smoky flavor
  • noun
  • /vərˈdʒɪnɪə hæm/
  • US
translation icon : jamón de Virginia
  • At the deli, I ordered a sliced Virginia ham sandwich with mustard and pickles.

Examples

  • Hey, by the way, tonight's dinner special is Virginia ham... ...with a choice of vegetables.

    Protocol (1984)

  • Nice Virginia ham.

    Finian's Rainbow (1968)

  • Uh, can I get a half-pound ofVirginia ham, half-pound oftheJarlsberg?

    The Wrestler (2008)

  • Texas grapefruit, Virginia ham, Idaho potatoes, Wisconsin cheese, Washington apples, and baked Alaska.

    Annie (1982)

  • Elsa Maxwell also featured her in How to Do It, commending the Woodward buffet specialty: thinly sliced Virginia ham.

    Blog text (31)

  • Tonight's dinner special features a delicious Virginia ham served with a variety of fresh vegetables.

  • For the holiday gathering, the chef prepared a traditional meal that included a succulent Virginia ham.

How Salty

salt pork
2 4.1
serrano
7.3
prosciutto
19 7.9
Virginia ham
  • US
1 3.7
ham
162 1.0

Surface Forms

Virginia ham singular
Virginia hams plural

Morphology

Virginia + ham

The meaning 'a type of ham from Virginia' is directly derivable from combining 'Virginia' (a place name) with 'ham' (cured pork). Place-name + product compounds are a common, compositional pattern cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would understand this MWE.

Etymology

Virginia ham comes from the state of Virginia, where farmers long ago salted and smoked ham to make it last longer. Because this process made the meat dark, lean, and very smoky, today 'Virginia ham' means a dry, salty, smoky ham from that region.