spam

English Online Dictionary. What means spam‎? What does spam mean?

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" 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 a newsgroup post 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/
• also (æ-tensing) IPA^(key): [ˈspeəm]
• Rhymes: -æm

Noun

spam (countable and uncountable, plural spams)

2. (uncountable, rarely countable, computing, Internet) Unsolicited bulk electronic messages.

   Synonym: junk mail

   Antonym: ham

   Coordinate term: bacn
3. (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.

4. (Internet) Excessive, often unwanted and repeated online messages.
5. (Internet) Ellipsis of spam account.
7. A type of tinned meat made mainly from ham.

Hyponyms

Meronyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

spam (third-person singular simple present spams, present participle spamming, simple past and past participle spammed)

1. (intransitive, computing, Internet) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages.)
2. (transitive, computing, Internet) To send spam (i.e. unsolicited electronic messages) to a person or entity.
3. (transitive, intransitive, computing, Internet) To send messages repeatedly, often with disruptive effect; to flood.
4. (transitive, by extension, computing, video games) To do something rapidly and repeatedly.

Translations

See also

• Wikipedia article on spamming
• Official SPAM home page

References

Anagrams

• AMPS, APMs, MAPs, MPAs, amps, maps, pams, sAMP, samp

Danish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English spam.

Noun

spam (genitive spams)

1. (computing, Internet) Spam.

Etymology 2

See spamme.

Verb

spam

1. imperative of spamme

Dutch

Pronunciation

• (Belgium) IPA^(key): /spɑm/
• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /spɛm/
• Hyphenation: spam

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English spam.

Noun

spam m (uncountable)

1. spam (undesired electronic content)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

spam

1. inflection of spammen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spam/

Noun

spam m (plural spams)

1. spam (meat)
2. (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)

1. (computing, Internet) spam

Declension

Interlingua

Noun

spam (plural spams)

1. (computing, Internet) spam

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English spam.

Noun

spam m (invariable)

1. (Internet) spam

Related terms

• spamming

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspam/
• Rhymes: -am
• Syllabification: spam

Noun

spam m inan

1. (computing, Internet) spam (unsolicited bulk electronic messages)

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

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.

Pronunciation

Noun

spam m (uncountable)

1. (computing, Internet) spam

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspam/
• Rhymes: -am

Noun

spam n (plural spamuri)

1. (computing, Internet) spam

Declension

Slovene

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɛ́ːm/

Noun

spȃm m inan

1. (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)

1. (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.

Synonyms

• correo basura

Related terms

Further reading

• “spam”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
• “spam”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam. Earliest attested in 1997.

Noun

spam n

1. spam (unsolicited electronic messages)

   Synonym: skräppost

Declension

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)

1. (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

Synonyms

• yığın mesaj

Vietnamese

Etymology

Borrowed from English spam.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [spam˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [spam˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [spam˧˧]
• Phonetic spelling: xpăm

Noun

spam

1. (computing, Internet) spam