山芋

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 山芋 (やまいも) refers to Japanese or mountain yams used as root vegetables. It appears as a grated ingredient and as a freshly dug crop.
• Basic usage: Grated yam is served over rice; one dug from a field has a long, slender shape.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Prepared viscous ingredient and shape of a freshly harvested root
  • すりおろした山芋 is prepared food, while 畑で掘った山芋 is the harvested root. The second example's shape should not be generalized to every variety.