white yam
- noun
- Australian
:
ñame blanco
- The white yam is a staple in many Pacific Island diets.
Examples
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She boiled slices of white yam as a starchy side dish for dinner.
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The farmer harvested several white yam roots from his field after the rainy season.
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In Polynesian cuisine, white yam is often used in traditional dishes for its smooth texture.
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I bought some white yams from the market.
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In Polynesian cuisine, white yam is often used in traditional dishes for its smooth texture.
-
She boiled slices of white yam as a starchy side dish for dinner.
-
The farmer harvested several white yam roots from his field after the rainy season.
Synonyms
A large root vegetable grown on Pacific islands with soft white inside
A yam from Southeast Asia with large starchy roots often purple or white inside
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase denotes a yam that is white in color/ flesh, which is directly and transparently derived from combining 'white' (a color) with 'yam' (a starchy root). This straightforward adjective+noun composition follows common cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
White yam gets its name from how it looks: people called the root a yam and used white to show its pale, creamy flesh. So today white yam means 'a yam with pale, edible flesh' often grown and eaten on Pacific islands.
