From Sanskrit कार्य (kārya, "work, deed, task"), via Prakrit. The root is the Sanskrit verb कृ (kṛ, "to do, to make"), which is a distant cognate of the Latin *creare* and the Proto-Indo-European root *ker-* ("to make"). The shortening to काम is characteristic of the natural evolution from classical Sanskrit into modern Indo-Aryan languages.

काम is one of the four classical aims of life (Puruṣārtha) in Hindu philosophy — though in that context it refers to desire or pleasure, not labour. In everyday modern Hindi, however, काम simply means "work" or "task." This dual meaning can be a source of confusion: context usually makes it clear whether someone means their daily job or the philosophical concept. The phrase "काम आना" (kām ānā) means "to be of use / to come in handy" — a very common idiom worth learning early.