Word.ws English Dictionary

eam

/ˈiːm/

eam noun: uncle.

Noun (1)

eam (plural eams)

  1. (dialectal, obsolete) Uncle.
    • James Melville remarked that during his uncle's time in Geneva he became “weill acquented with my eam, Mr. hendrie Scrymgeour” and was said to have been “a frequent visitor at his lodgings in town, and also at the Violet.2011, Ernest R. Holloway, Andrew Melville and Humanism in Renaissance Scotland 1545-1622

Noun (2) capitalized: EAM

EAM

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of external auditory meatus.

Proper noun capitalized: EAM

EAM

  1. (India, abbreviation, acronym) Acronym of External Affairs Minister.
    • The EAM said that the post Cold War era has opened up new opportunities for cooperation between the two countries. The EAM conveyed India's hope to work closely with Iran in the international forums.1995, BBC, Summary of World Broadcasts - Asia Pacific, page 3
    • In the words of Indian EAM Swaraj, the dialogue is “the starting point for a new era in relations between India and Central Asia."2020, Anil Sigdel, India in the Era of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: How Modi Responds to Xi, →ISBN, page 44
  2. (abbreviation, historical, initialism) Initialism of Ethnikó Apeleftherotikó Métopo, the Greek National Liberation Front.
    • It was only a matter of time before EAM walked out of the provisional government in frustration over demands that the partisans demobilise.2014 November 30, Ed Vulliamy, Helena Smith, The Guardian
    • Against this background, EAM succeeded in establishing a Provisional Government in the mountains of ‘Free Greece’ in March 1944.2019, Roderick Beaton, Greece: Biography of a Modern Country, Penguin, published 2020, page 285

Forms of eam

pluraleams
alternative formeame
alternative Scotlandeme

Origin of eam

From Middle English eem, eme, from Old English ēam (“maternal uncle”), from Proto-Germanic *awahaimaz (“maternal uncle”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwh₂os (“maternal uncle, maternal grandfather”). Cognate with Scots eme (“uncle”), West Frisian iem, omke (“uncle”), Dutch oom (“uncle”), German Ohm, Oheim (“maternal uncle”), Latin avunculus (“maternal uncle”). See uncle. Doublet of oom and ohm.

Questions about eam

What does eam mean?
Eam means uncle.
What part of speech is eam?
Eam can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce eam?
Eam is pronounced /ˈiːm/.
What is the plural of eam?
The plural of eam is eams.

Words near eam in the dictionary

  1. Ealing
  2. Ealing comedy
  3. Ealing Common
  4. Ealy
  5. Ealys
  6. eam
  7. eame
  8. eames
  9. Eames chair
  10. Eames chairs
  11. Eameses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: eam (page history and authors); EAM (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “eam.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/eam. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.