'asham' originates from Biblical Hebrew (Hebrew), specifically the root and word 'אשם' (ʾ-š-m), where the root carried the sense 'to be guilty' and the noun meant 'guilt' or 'guilt-offering.'

'asham' appears in Biblical Hebrew texts (e.g., legal and ritual contexts). The form 'ashamnu' is the first-person plural perfect/past conjugation used in Hebrew and later in liturgical/confessional Hebrew; it has been transmitted into modern usage as a direct transliteration in Jewish liturgical contexts and scholarship.

Initially it denoted 'guilt' or a specific 'guilt-offering' in legal/ritual language; over time the verbal forms and their use in confession (e.g., the litany 'ashamnu...') emphasized the sense 'we are guilty' or collective confession.