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• ham
  ham

  noun

  a cut of meat from the heavy-muscled part of a hog's rear quarter, between hip and hock, usually cured.
• Ham
  Ham

  noun

  (in the Bible) the second son of Noah.
• HAM
  HAM

  adverb

  hard as a motherfucker: in an extremely high-energy manner; to an exceptional degree (a euphemistic acronym used as a description of intensity, without explicit vulgarity).

SEE ALSO:

Slang dictionary results for ham.

ham

¹ American  

[ham] / hæm /

noun

1. a cut of meat from the heavy-muscled part of a hog's rear quarter, between hip and hock, usually cured.

2. that part of a hog's hind leg.

3. the part of the leg back of the knee.

4. Often hams. the back of the thigh, or the thigh and the buttock together.

---

ham ² American  

[ham] / hæm /

noun

1. an actor or performer who overacts.

2. an operator of an amateur radio station.

---

verb (used with or without object)

• hams,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hammed,
  past participle,  past
• hamming
  present participle

1. to act with exaggerated expression of emotion; overact.

idioms

1. ham it up, to overact; ham.

Ham ³ American  

[ham] / hæm /

noun

1. (in the Bible) the second son of Noah.

---

HAM ⁴ American  

[ham] / hæm /

Or ham

adverb

Slang.

1. hard as a motherfucker: in an extremely high-energy manner; to an exceptional degree (a euphemistic acronym used as a description of intensity, without explicit vulgarity).

   Nothing can stop me from partying HAM this spring break!

---

idioms

1. go HAM, to exhibit optimal energy or enthusiasm; to make a great effort.

   The team went HAM on the final play and mowed down the defense.

ham ¹ British  

/ hæm /

noun

1. the part of the hindquarters of a pig or similar animal between the hock and the hip

2. the meat of this part, esp when salted or smoked

3. informal

   1. the back of the leg above the knee

   2. the space or area behind the knee

4. needlework a cushion used for moulding curves

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ham ² British  

/ hæm /

noun

1. informal theatre

   1. an actor who overacts or relies on stock gestures or mannerisms

   2. overacting or clumsy acting

   3. ( as modifier )

      a ham actor

2. informal

   1. a licensed amateur radio operator

   2. ( as modifier )

      a ham licence

---

verb

1. informal to overact

Ham Cultural  

1. One of the three sons of Noah. According to the biblical account, Noah and his family were the only human survivors of the great Flood and were therefore the progenitors of all the peoples on Earth.

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Usage

What else does ham mean? To go ham is to put in an extraordinary, even aggressive, amount of effort. If you went crazy eating ham, you'd be going ham on some ham. In this sense, ham may stand for hard as a motherf****r.

Discover More

The “curse of Ham” refers to the biblical story in which Ham, seeing his father drunk and naked, refused to turn away as his two brothers did. When Noah awoke, he cursed Ham and his son Canaan, supposedly causing a darker pigmentation in their descendants. This so-called curse has often been wrongly used to justify racism.

Egypt (see also Egypt) was traditionally called “the Land of Ham,” and Ham was considered to be the ancestor of the Egyptians and of all African peoples south of Egypt.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• hamming
  present
• hammed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• ham
  simple
• hams
  simple
• have hammed
  perfect
• has hammed
  perfect
• am hamming
  progressive
• are hamming
  progressive
• is hamming
  progressive
• have been hamming
  perfect progressive
• has been hamming
  perfect progressive

Past

• hammed
  simple
• had hammed
  perfect
• was hamming
  progressive
• were hamming
  progressive
• had been hamming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will ham
  simple
• will have hammed
  perfect
• will be hamming
  progressive
• will have been hamming
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of ham¹

before 1000; Middle English hamme, Old English hamm bend of the knee; cognate with Middle Dutch, Middle Low German hamme, Old High German hamma; akin to Old Norse hǫm buttock; perhaps akin to Greek knḗmē shin, Old Irish cnáim bone

Origin of ham²

First recorded in 1880–85; short for hamfatter, after The Hamfat Man, a Black minstrel song celebrating an awkward man

Origin of HAM⁴

From its use in digital communications

Explanation

Ham is a type of pork, or meat that comes from a pig. If you order a ham sandwich at a deli, you'll get a pile of thinly-sliced meat between two slices of bread. Most ham is preserved in some way, either smoked or salted, and traditionally this meat comes from a hog's hind legs. For many people who celebrate Easter, ham is a typical main dish. Ham, defined in the 1630s as "meat from the hind leg of a pig," comes from the Old English hamm, "hollow or bend of the knee." If you're a performer described as a ham, it means your acting is way too theatrical or exaggerated.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ham Ham HAM hams hammed hamming

Michelle Monaghan, always good, is also among the cast, as homicide detective Amanda Beck, though she lays low enough to duck all the free-floating ham in this adaptation of Alex North’s 2019 novel.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Albie-Junior Thomas finished the Three Peaks Challenge in 22 hours and 30 minutes alongside his dad, powered by ham and cheese sandwiches, sour sweets and four months' training.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

Grab a pineapple bun stuffed with ham and butter, a corned beef egg tart, a sourdough one, even pistachio.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

"It would be like smoked ham," he said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

There were ham sandwiches on crusty brown bread, and cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches on white bread with the crusts trimmed off.

From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood

The loan signing, with an obligation to buy, of Alejandro Garnacho from Chelsea allows Villa to spread the cost while Aaron Wan-Bissaka is due to move from West Ham on a similar deal.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

Roberto De Zerbi has revamped his midfield this summer, signing Mateus Fernandes from West Ham United and Sandro Tonali from Newcastle for a combined £185m.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

West Ham have sold Mateus Fernandes to Tottenham for £85m and Crysencio Summerville for £60m this summer, but captain Jarrod Bowen has signed a new contract.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

West Ham United have broken the EFL transfer record by paying a £22m fee to sign Arne Engels from Scottish champions Celtic.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

I tapped on the window and motioned for Ham to roll it down.

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

"This gives us confidence that the HAM Index can truly predict who is a healthy ager versus a rapid ager."

From Science Daily ● Mar. 8, 2024

“If you say anything bad about Long Beach in front of me I’ll go HAM, even if it’s true. I haven’t felt that energy in other parts of L.A.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2022

The network is divided into regions, where leaders sometimes hold training sessions on HAM radios, firearms or emergency first aid.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2021

If they wanna go HAM on the gifts, might as well try to make something useful come out if it!

From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2019

He wore bright blue orthopedic sandals, a faded Bob Marley T-shirt, and a white baseball hat that said, HAM, BACON, SAUSAGE.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

ChatGPT said she’d need to make two turkeys, two hams and six pies to feed all those guests.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2025

There is a pleasing calm to her delivery that stands out in a scene of fidgety hams.

From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2024

Many commercially available hams, especially highly processed and cured varieties, can be high in sodium, which is salt.

From Salon ● Feb. 14, 2024

It said appetite for traditional Christmas dinner items was particularly strong in 2023, with volumes of parsnips, sprouts and potatoes up, along with festive meats including pigs in blankets, sausages, hams and turkeys.

From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2024

I could build a smoke house like the one gran’pa had, an’ when we kill a pig we can smoke the bacon and the hams, and make sausage an’ all like that.

From "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck

They played to the paparazzi, vamping at high-profile events including the Kentucky Derby and the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner, and hammed it up in “caught off-guard” moments at the supermarket or over lunch.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

The last part was hammed up a bit; lacking a controlling stake doesn’t automatically equate to no influence on decisions.

From Slate ● Dec. 12, 2024

Now their AI capability, however obscure, is hammed up.

From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2024

During a six-week election campaign, both Hipkins and Luxon traveled the country and hammed it up for the cameras.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2023

Slopper hammed it up a bit, trying to mimic and trying to pretend that wasn’t the case.

From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline

Twenty minutes later, they are on stage rehearsing The Happy Dictator; followed by Shaun Ryder, hamming up his part on the 2005 classic Dare!

From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026

He performed badly in sports and in school, but was a decent singer and could get a chuckle hamming it up in the school play.

From Salon ● Jan. 10, 2025

Was it necessary to have the head coach of the Warriors and a former Bulls shooting guard hamming it up on the party’s biggest night?

From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2024

They put them on and dashed to the front of the stage, smiling and hamming it up for the finale: a class picture.

From New York Times ● Jun. 11, 2023

Suddenly my friends are on the screen, waving, angling for face time, hamming it up.

From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen

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