gamy

¹

or gam·ey

[ gey-mee ]

adjective

, gam·i·er, gam·i·est.

1. having the tangy flavor or odor of game:

   I like the gamy taste of venison.

2. having the flavor or odor of game or other meat kept uncooked until slightly tainted:

   The roast was still edible but was slightly gamy.

3. plucky; spirited.
4. lewd or suggestive; risqué.
5. gross or squalid; unwholesome.

-gamy

²

1. a combining form with the meanings “marriage,” “union,” “fertilization, pollination,” of the kind specified by the initial element: exogamy; plastogamy; allogamy; also forming nouns corresponding to adjectives ending in -gamous: heterogamy.

-gamy

combining form

1. denoting marriage or sexual union

   bigamy

Other Words From

• gami·ly adverb
• un·gamy adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of gamy¹

First recorded in 1835–45; game ¹ + -y ¹

Origin of gamy²

Combining form representing Greek -gamía “act of marrying”

Word History and Origins

Origin of gamy¹

from Greek -gamia, from gamos marriage

Example Sentences

Plus, the horror has a purpose, beyond gamy genre thrills.

From Los Angeles Times

Instead, you get a harmonious porky bite with gamy undertones from the confit rabbit, beef tongue, duck wing meat and offal.

From Seattle Times

Rabbit has a delectable, earthy, meaty taste that isn’t gamy.

From Seattle Times

The story of a good-looking blond buck from Texas fired with simpleminded dreams of making it as a stud hustler in Manhattan could easily have become another of the gamy sexual permutations which the screen is so earnestly examining for us these days.

From Los Angeles Times

Meat offers up a sinewy, gamy, savory experience that is, to date, impossible to reproduce.

From Washington Post

Words That Use -gamy

What does -gamy mean?

The combining form -gamy is used like a suffix with a variety of meanings. In terms from botany, it typically means “fertilization, pollination.“ In other contexts, -gamy is used to mean “marriage” or “union.”

The form -gamy is also used to form nouns related to terms ending in -gamous. It is often used in scientific terms, especially in biology.

The form -gamy comes from Greek -gamía, meaning “act of marrying.”

What are variants of -gamy?

While -gamy doesn’t have any variants, it is related to the form -gamous, as in cleistogamous. Additional combining forms of the same general origin include gamet-, gameto-, and gamo-. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles for the forms.

Examples of -gamy

One example of a word you may have come across that features the form -gamy is polygamy, “the practice or condition of having more than one spouse, especially wife, at one time.” Polygamy comes from Greek polygamía, which uses the equivalent form of -gamy.

The form poly- means “many,” from Greek polýs. Here, the form -gamy means “marriage.” Polygamy literally translates to “marriage to many (people).”

What are some words that use the combining form -gamy?

• anisogamy
• autoallogamy
• bigamy (using the equivalent form of -gamy in Latin)
• endogamy
• syngamy
• xenogamy

What are some other forms that -gamy may be commonly confused with?

• -gen
• -gon
• -gram

Break it down!

The combining form bi- means “two.” With this in mind, what is bigamy?