spam
English
Alternative forms
- Spam, SPAM
Etymology
The original sense (canned ham) is a proprietary name registered by Geo. A. Hormel & Co. in U.S., 1937. It is presumed to be a conflation of either "spiced ham" or "shoulder of pork and ham"[1] but was soon extended to other kinds of canned meat. Hormel spells the trademarked name in all upper case.
The use for unsolicited and unwanted email derives from a Monty Python sketch (Flying Circus, Episode 25). In the 1970 sketch, a group of Vikings in a restaurant repeatedly chant the word "spam". The earliest recorded real-life use for this sense occurs around 1993 which finds reference in an email dated March 31, 1993.
The term appears to have been used earlier in a different sense in relation to "Multi-User Dungeons" (MUDs), a kind of multi-user computer gaming environment before widespread use of the Internet, in the 1980s.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈspæm/
Audio (UK) (file) - also (æ-tensing) IPA(key): [ˈspeəm]
- Rhymes: -æm
Noun
spam (countable and uncountable, plural spams)
![](Images/wiktionary/Spam_2.jpg.webp)
- (uncountable, rarely countable, computing, Internet) Unsolicited bulk electronic messages.
- Synonym: junk mail
- Antonym: ham
- 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:
- In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%. That means about $165 billion was spent not on drumming up business, but on annoying people, creating landfill and cluttering spam filters.
- I get far too much spam.
- I received 58 spams yesterday.
- (uncountable, computing, Internet) Any undesired electronic content automatically generated for commercial purposes.
- Long title, Spam Control Act (Cap. 311A, R. Ed. 2008)
- An Act to provide for the control of spam, which is unsolicited commercial communications sent in bulk by electronic mail or by text or multi-media messaging to mobile telephone numbers, and to provide for matters connected therewith.
- Long title, Spam Control Act (Cap. 311A, R. Ed. 2008)
- (slang, Internet) Ellipsis of spam account.
- A type of tinned meat made mainly from ham.
Hyponyms
- blog spam
- e-mail spam/email spam
- log spam
- messaging spam
- mobile phone spam
- newsgroup spam
- referer spam
- social networking spam
- social spam
Meronyms
- e-mail, email
Derived terms
- spambot
- spamdexing
- spam in a can
- spammer
- spamming
- spammy
- spamvertising
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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Verb
spam (third-person singular simple present spams, present participle spamming, simple past and past participle spammed)
- (intransitive, computing, Internet) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages.)
- (transitive, computing, Internet) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages) to a person or entity.
- (transitive, by extension, video games) To do something rapidly and repeatedly.
- Stop spamming that special attack!
- Spam this button to get a speed boost.
- (transitive, intransitive, computing, Internet) To post the same text repeatedly with disruptive effect; to flood.
Translations
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See also
- Wikipedia article on spamming
- Official SPAM home page
References
- “What does the SPAM brand name mean?”, in (please provide the title of the work), accessed 6 July 2013, archived from the original on 2013-10-14
Anagrams
- AMPS, APMs, MAPs, MPAs, amps, maps, pams, sAMP, samp
Danish
Etymology 1
Borrowed from English spam.
Noun
spam (genitive spams)
- (computing, Internet) Spam.
Etymology 2
See spamme.
Verb
spam
- imperative of spamme
Dutch
Pronunciation
- (Belgium) IPA(key): /spɑm/
- (Netherlands) IPA(key): /spɛm/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: spam
Etymology 1
Borrowed from English spam.
Noun
spam m (uncountable)
- spam (undesired electronic content)
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
spam
- first-person singular present indicative of spammen
- imperative of spammen
French
Etymology
Borrowed from English spam.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /spam/
Audio (file)
Noun
spam m (plural spams)
- spam (meat)
- (computing, Internet) spam
Synonyms
- (unsolicited email): pourriel, courriel indésirable
Hungarian
Etymology
Borrowed from English spam.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈspɛm]
- Rhymes: -ɛm
Noun
spam (plural spamek)
- (computing, Internet) spam
Declension
Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony) | ||
---|---|---|
singular | plural | |
nominative | spam | spamek |
accusative | spamet | spameket |
dative | spamnek | spameknek |
instrumental | spammel | spamekkel |
causal-final | spamért | spamekért |
translative | spammé | spamekké |
terminative | spamig | spamekig |
essive-formal | spamként | spamekként |
essive-modal | — | — |
inessive | spamben | spamekben |
superessive | spamen | spameken |
adessive | spamnél | spameknél |
illative | spambe | spamekbe |
sublative | spamre | spamekre |
allative | spamhez | spamekhez |
elative | spamből | spamekből |
delative | spamről | spamekről |
ablative | spamtől | spamektől |
non-attributive possessive - singular | spamé | spameké |
non-attributive possessive - plural | spaméi | spamekéi |
Possessive forms of spam | ||
---|---|---|
possessor | single possession | multiple possessions |
1st person sing. | spamem | spameim |
2nd person sing. | spamed | spameid |
3rd person sing. | spame | spamei |
1st person plural | spamünk | spameink |
2nd person plural | spametek | spameitek |
3rd person plural | spamük | spameik |
Interlingua
Noun
spam (plural spams)
- (computing, Internet) spam
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English spam.
Noun
spam m (invariable)
- (Internet) spam
Related terms
- spamming
Polish
Etymology
Borrowed from English spam.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /spam/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -am
- Syllabification: spam
Noun
spam m inan
- (computing, Internet) spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages)
Declension
singular | |
---|---|
nominative | spam |
genitive | spamu |
dative | spamowi |
accusative | spam |
instrumental | spamem |
locative | spamie |
vocative | spamie |
Derived terms
- spamować
Related terms
- spamer
Further reading
- spam in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- spam in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English spam.
Noun
spam m (uncountable)
- (computing, Internet) spam
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from English spam.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈspam/
- Rhymes: -am
Noun
spam n (plural spamuri)
- (computing, Internet) spam
Declension
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) spam | spamul | (niște) spamuri | spamurile |
genitive/dative | (unui) spam | spamului | (unor) spamuri | spamurilor |
vocative | spamule | spamurilor |
Slovene
Etymology
Borrowed from English spam.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /spɛ́ːm/
Noun
spȃm m inan
- (Internet) spam (unwanted messages)
Alternative forms
- spȇm
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English spam.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈspam/ [ˈspãm], /esˈpam/ [esˈpãm]
- Rhymes: -am
- Syllabification: spam
Noun
spam m (plural spams)
- (computing) spam
Usage notes
According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
Further reading
- “spam”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Swedish
Etymology
Borrowed from English spam. Earliest attested in 1997.
Noun
spam n
- (uncountable) spam (unsolicited electronic messages)
Declension
This noun needs an inflection-table template.
Synonyms
- skräppost
Derived terms
- spammare
- spamfilter
References
- spam in Svensk ordbok (SO)
Turkish
Etymology
Borrowed from English spam.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [spam]
- Hyphenation: spam
Noun
spam (definite accusative spamı, plural spamlar)
- (computing, Internet) spam
Usage notes
As the word starts with two consonants, some Turkish people will have difficulties to spell it correctly. It may be spelled also sıpam.
Declension
Inflection | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nominative | spam | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Definite accusative | spamı | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Singular | Plural | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nominative | spam | spamlar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Definite accusative | spamı | spamları | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dative | spama | spamlara | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locative | spamda | spamlarda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ablative | spamdan | spamlardan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genitive | spamın | spamların | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms
- yığın mesaj
Vietnamese
Etymology
Borrowed from English spam.
Pronunciation
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [spam˧˧]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [spam˧˧]
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [spam˧˧]
- Phonetic: xpăm
Noun
spam
- (computing, Internet) spam