Meaning

noun a rich soil consisting of a mixture of sand and clay and decaying organic materials

originFrom Middle English lome, lame, lam, from Old English lām (“clay, mud, mire, earth”), from Proto-West Germanic *laim, from Proto-Germanic *laimaz, *laimô (“clay”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyH- (“to smear”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Leem (“loam”), West Frisian liem (“loam”), Dutch leem (“loam”), German Lehm (“loam”). Related also to lime.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0