gammon [LME] Gammon shares an ancient root with *ham, the former coming into English through the Romance root, the latter Germanic. Gambol [E16th] comes from the same Romance root, as does gambit [M16th], coming via French from an Italian term meaning ‘a tripping up’, and the jambs [LME] of a door, which prop up the lintel like two legs, from Old French jambe, which goes back to to Greek kampe ‘joint’. Recently the term gammon has been used to describe the sort of vehement older person, typically a boomer (see boom) who disagrees with the views of the young, from the red face caused by their anger; gammon-faced has been used to describe a florid complexion since the early 18th century.