tame

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   (Of an animal) used to people and not wild or dangerous.

   The little goat was so tame that it ate straight from my hand.

2. 2
   adj

   Not exciting or interesting; dull.

   After all the wild stories, the actual party turned out to be pretty tame.

3. 3
   adj

   Quiet and gentle; not likely to cause trouble.

   He used to argue a lot, but lately he has become quite tame.

From Middle English tame, tome, weak inflection forms of Middle English tam, tom, from Old English tam, tom (“domesticated, tame”), from Proto-West Germanic *tam (“tame”), from Proto-Germanic *tamaz (“brought into the home, tame”), from Proto-Indo-European *demh₂- (“to tame, dominate”). Cognate with Scots tam, tame (“tame”), Saterland Frisian tom (“tame”), West Frisian tam (“tame”), Dutch tam (“tame”), Low German Low German tamm, tahm (“tame”), German zahm (“tame”), Danish tam (“tame”), Swedish tam (“tame”), Icelandic tamur (“tame”). The verb is from Middle English tamen, temen, temien, from O…

Topics