The core carom meaning is a rebound: as a verb, to carom is to hit something and bounce off it at an angle, and as a noun, a carom is a billiards shot in which the cue ball strikes two other balls one after the other. Sports reporters love it: "The puck caromed off the boards and into the net."
If you searched from a kitchen, though, you probably mean carom seeds, a sharp, thyme like spice used across South Asia. A third use is the tabletop game usually spelled carrom. This page gives the carom definition for each, so you can tell from context which one is meant.
Entry at a glance
Meaning
To strike and rebound; a shot hitting two balls in turn; a spice seedPart of speech
Noun and verbPronunciation
KAIR-uhm or KAR-uhmWord forms
caroms, caromed, caromingOrigin
Short for carambole, from French, from Spanish carambola; noun from 1779, verb from 1860Close words
rebound, ricochet, glance off, deflectRegister
Neutral; most common in sports writing and cooking
Carom meaning, sense by sense
- Verb, to bounce off: to hit a surface or object and spring away from it, usually at an angle. A ball, puck, car or even a person can carom off something.
- Noun, in billiards: a shot in which the cue ball hits two object balls in a single stroke. Carom billiards is also the name for a family of games played on a table with no pockets, where scoring depends on these contacts.
- Noun, a rebound in general: in American sports writing a carom is any bounce off a wall, rim or post: "He grabbed the carom off the backboard."
- Noun, carom seeds: the small, ridged seeds of the plant Trachyspermum ammi, also called bishop's weed in English.
Carom in sentences
- The shopping cart caromed off a parked car and rolled into the drain.
- She needed one clean carom to win the frame, and she made it look easy.
- His shot caromed off the crossbar, and the crowd groaned.
- Add half a teaspoon of carom seeds to the hot oil before the onions go in.
- Rumours caromed around the office all afternoon, bouncing from desk to desk.
Carom seeds in the kitchen
Carom seeds look a little like cumin or celery seed but taste much stronger, with a sharp, slightly bitter flavour close to thyme. That flavour comes mainly from thymol, a natural oil also found in thyme. Cooks in India and nearby countries fry them briefly in oil or clarified butter, add them to flatbread dough, sprinkle them on fried snacks or mix them into batters for vegetable fritters. A pinch goes a long way.
Cookbooks in English may call the spice carom or bishop's weed, depending on the writer. How the spice came to share its English name with the billiards word is not certain.
Carom, carrom and the board game
The tabletop game in which players flick a heavy striker to knock flat discs into corner pockets is usually spelled carrom, with a double r. It is hugely popular in South Asia and is played in homes, clubs and tournaments. You may see it written as carom too, especially in older or overseas writing.
The game and the billiards term clearly share a family, since both involve hitting one piece so it sends another flying. Whether carrom took its name directly from the billiards word is not settled, so treat any confident story about it with care.
Carom, ricochet and rebound compared
| Word | Typical picture |
|---|---|
| Carom | Something hits a surface or object and glances off; sports and billiards feel |
| Ricochet | A fast object, often a bullet or stone, skims and bounces off a hard surface |
| Rebound | Springs back after hitting; also a basketball term and a word for recovery |
| Deflect | Changes direction because something got in the way |
Carom usually suggests a glancing blow and a new direction, not bouncing straight back. To see how one word can work as both a noun and a verb, look at those pages.
From a red billiard ball to the bounce
English first recorded carom as a billiards noun in 1779. It is a shortened, altered form of carambole, taken from French, which came from Spanish carambola. In billiards that Spanish word was used for the red object ball, and it may first have been the name of the star fruit. The verb sense, to strike and rebound, followed in 1860. So a word for a fruit, then a ball, became a word for any glancing bounce. The simple physics of a moving ball is explained on our inertia page, and our everyday vocabulary hub collects more useful words.
Frequently asked questions
What does caromed mean?
It is the past form of carom and tells you something hit a surface or object and bounced off it: "The ball caromed off the post."
What are carom seeds called in English?
Carom seeds is itself an English name. The same spice is also sold as bishop's weed, and botanists call the plant Trachyspermum ammi.
Is it carom or carrom?
For the billiards shot and the verb, the standard spelling is carom. For the flick and pocket board game, carrom is far more common, although carom appears now and then.
How do you pronounce carom?
Say KAIR-uhm or KAR-uhm, stress on the first syllable. In many American accents it rhymes with harem.
What is a carom shot in basketball?
Commentators use carom for the bounce off the rim or backboard after a missed shot. A player who grabs it has collected the carom.
Is carom the same as ricochet?
They are close. Ricochet usually suggests a fast object such as a bullet skipping off a hard surface. Carom is more common in sports and billiards.