شام

شَام • (šām) m

1. only used in الشَّام (aš-šām)

• IPA^(key): /ʃaː.ma/

شَامَ • (šāma) I (non-past يَشِيمُ (yašīmu), verbal noun شَيْم (šaym))

1. to have sheathed, to have hidden, to have concealed
2. to watch, to observe
3. to expect, to conjecture

شَامَّ • (šāmma) III (non-past يُشَامُّ (yušāmmu), verbal noun مُشَامَّة (mušāmma))

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• Freytag, Georg (1833) “شام”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[1] (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 473
• Lane, Edward William (1863-1893) “شام”, in Arabic-English Lexicon, London: Williams & Norgate, page 1634.
• Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “شام”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart‎^[2] (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 690

Borrowed from Urdu شام (śām), from Classical Persian شَام (šām).

• IPA^(key): [ɕaːm]

شام (śaam)

1. evening

• Bechtholdt, Astrid (2025) “shaam”, in Burushaski Hunza Dictionary (Webonary), Dallas, Texas, USA: SIL International, published 2017.

شام • (śām) f

1. Lisan ud-Dawat spelling of શામ (śām)

شام (şâm) (definite accusative شامؽ, plural شاملار)

1. Arabic spelling of şâm (“evening, supper”)

Borrowed from Arabic الشَّام (aš-šām).

شام • (Şâm)

1. Damascus (the capital city of Syria; an ancient settlement, the ancient capital of various polities, most notably the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 744 CE and Aram-Damascus, existing from the 12th to 8th centuries BCE)

   Synonyms: دمشق (Dimişk), شام شریف (Şam-i Şerif)

2. (historical) Syria (an eyalet in the Ottoman Empire)
3. (historical) Syria (a vilayet in the Ottoman Empire)

• → Abkhaz: Шьам (Šam), Шьамтәыла (Šamtʷʼəla)
• → Ladino: Sham
• Turkish: Şam

From Persian شام (šâm).

شام • (şâm)

1. evening
2. night

• Turkish: şam

• Mallouf, Nassif (1856) “Damas”, in Dictionnaire français-turc, 2nd edition, Paris: Maisonneuve, page 146
• Sezen, Tahir (2017) “Şâm”, in Osmanlı Yer Adları [Ottoman Place Names]‎^[3], 2nd edition, Ankara: T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü, page 711

Inherited from Proto-Iranian *xšáfnyah.

شام • (šâm)

1. dinner, supper (evening meal)

   برای شام چی داریم؟ (more literary) ― barâ-ye šâm či dârim? ― What do we have for dinner?

   شام چی داریم؟ (more colloquial) ― šâm či dârim? ― What do we have for dinner?

2. (archaic) dusk
3. (archaic) evening

   Synonym: عصر ('asr)

• شب (šab)

• → Azerbaijani: şam
• → Gujarati: شام (shām)
• → Hindustani:

  Hindi: शाम (śām)

  Urdu: شام (śām)

• → Khalaj: şâm
• → Ottoman Turkish: شام (şâm)
  • Turkish: şam

Borrowed from Arabic شَام (šām).

شام • (šâm)

1. Levant (a cultural region of Western Asia consisting of the eastern Mediterranean countries, i.e. Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus)
   • c. 1260s, Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī, translated by Reynold A. Nicholson, مثنوی معنوی [Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi], volume III, verse 89:

     سوی شامست این نشان و این خبر / در ره قدسش ببینی در گذر

     suy-e šâm-ast in nešân o in xabar / dar rah-e qods-aš be-bini dar gozar

     This sign and this information lies in the direction of Syria: you will see it as you pass on the way to Jerusalem.

2. Damascus (the capital city of Syria; an ancient settlement, the ancient capital of various polities, most notably the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 744 CE and Aram-Damascus, existing from the 12th to 8th centuries BCE)

   Synonym: دمشق (damešq)

• → Urdu: شام (śām)

• (Standard Punjabi) IPA^(key): /ʃäːm/

Borrowed from Classical Persian شَام (šām).

شام • (śām) f (Gurmukhi spelling ਸ਼ਾਮ)

1. evening, night

2=śām

Borrowed from Classical Persian شام (šām, “Greater Syria; Levant”), from Arabic الشَّام (aš-šām, “Levant; Damascus”).

شام • (śām) m

1. Syria (a country in West Asia in the Middle East)
2. (by extension) Levant (a cultural region of Western Asia consisting of the eastern Mediterranean countries, i.e. Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus)

• Iqbal, Salah ud-Din (2002) “شام”, in vaḍḍī panjābī lughat‎ (in Punjabi), Lahore: ʻAzīz Pablisharz
• Bashir, Kanwal (2012) “شام”, in Punjabi-English Dictionary, Hyattsville, MD: Dunwoody Press
• “ਸ਼ਾਮ”, in Punjabi-English Dictionary, Patiala: Punjabi University, 2025

• شهام (šhɛm)

From Proto-Semitic *šim-. Akin to Mehri [script needed] (hemm), Shehri [script needed] (šum).

شام (šɛm) m (dual شامي (šɛ́mi), plural شاهم (šóhom))

1. name
   • 2014, “A Merciful Woman and Diheko”, in Vitaly Naumkin, compiler, Corpus of Soqotri Oral Literature, volume 1, page 144, line 5:

     ويهاه ملاك وميه شام دحاكو.

     wa-yhe maľák wa-məy šɛm diḥéko

     He was an angel, and his name was Diheko.

• Naumkin, Vitaly, et al. (2014) “Glossary”, in Corpus of Soqotri Oral Literature, volume 1, Leiden: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 660
• Naumkin, Vitaly, et al. (2018) “Glossary”, in Corpus of Soqotri Oral Literature, volume 2, Leiden: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 593
• Leslau, Wolf (1938) “šem”, in Lexique Soqotri (sudarabique moderne) avec comparaisons et explications étymologiques (in French), Wiesbaden: Libraire C. Klincksieck, page 418

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /ʃɑːm/

• Audio (Pakistan):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːm

Borrowed from Classical Persian شام (šām).

شام • (śām) f (Hindi spelling शाम)

1. evening, night

• “شام”, in اُردُو لُغَت (urdū luġat) (in Urdu), Ministry of Education: Government of Pakistan, 2017.
• “شام”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2025.

Borrowed from Classical Persian شام (šām, “Greater Syria; Levant”), from Arabic الشَّام (aš-šām, “Levant; Damascus”).

شام • (śām) m (Hindi spelling शाम)

1. Syria (a country in West Asia in the Middle East)
2. (by extension) Levant (a cultural region of Western Asia consisting of the eastern Mediterranean countries, i.e. Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus)

• (Middle East) مَشْرِقِ وُسْطیٰ (maśriq-i vustā); سَعُودی عَرَب (sa'ūdī 'arab), مِصْر (misr) عِراق ('irāq), اِیران (īrān), اُرْدُن (urdun), شام (śām), تُرْکِیَہ (turkiya), قِبْرِص (qibris) فِلِسْطِین (filistīn) اِسْرائِیل (isrāīl) لِبْنان (libnān) یَمَن (yaman) عُمان ('umān) مُتَّحِدَہ عَرَب اِمارات (muttahida 'arab imārāt) قَطَر (qatar) بَحْرِین (bahrīn) کُوَیت (kuvait) ^{(Category: ur:Middle East)}

From Arabic الشَّام (aš-šām).

• IPA^(key): /ʃɑm/

شام • (sham) (plural شاملار (shamlar))

1. Damascus (the capital city of Syria; an ancient settlement, the ancient capital of various polities, most notably the Umayyad Caliphate from 661 to 744 CE and Aram-Damascus, existing from the 12th to 8th centuries BCE)
2. Levant (a cultural region of Western Asia consisting of the eastern Mediterranean countries, i.e. Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus)