"Y" Word Origins

Yardley

Old English

From Old English ġerd (“stick, rod”) + lēah (“woodland, clearing”). Equivalent to yard + -ley (“lea”).

yardstick

Origin

From yard + stick.

yark

Origin

From Middle English ȝarken, ȝerken, from Old English ġearcian (“to prepare, make ready, procure, furnish, supply”), Proto-West Germanic *garwakōn, equivalent to yare + -k. Related to Old English ġearc (“ready, active, quick”), ġearu (“prepared, ready, equipped, complete, finished, yare”). More at yare.

yarmulke

Polish

From Yiddish yarmlke, itself from Polish jarmułka, ultimately traced back to a Turkic word related to headgear.

yarn

Old English

From Old English ġearn ("spun wool"), an ancient Germanic word for spun fibre; the "tall tale" sense grew out of sailors literally spinning yarn while telling stories on long voyages.

Yash

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit यश (yaśa, “fame, glory”).

Yasha

Russian

Borrowed from Russian Я́ша (Jáša) or borrowed from Ukrainian Я́ша (Jáša).

yashiro

Japanese

From the Japanese word 社 (yashiro), referring to a Shinto place of worship.

Yasmin

Origin

Variant of Jasmine, often representing a transliteration of the corresponding Arabic and Persian names.

yassuh

Origin

From yes sir.

Yasuda

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 安田 (Yasuda) or 保田 (Yasuda).

Yasuko

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese やすこ (Yasuko).

yat

Russian

Borrowed from a Slavic language; compare Russian ять (jat').

yate

Origin

Unknown

Yates

Origin

From the Old English surname, from yate, obsolete form of gate.

yatter

Origin

Imitative, perhaps from/suggested by yap/yammer + chatter. Cognate with Scots yatter, yater (“to nag, chide”), Norwegian Nynorsk jaddre (“to jabber”).

Yau

Origin

From Hokkien 姚 (Iâu), Cantonese 丘 (jau1), Cantonese 邱 (jau1), Cantonese 尤 (jau4), Cantonese 游 (jau4), etc.

yaw

Old Norse · 1500

Origin uncertain, first recorded in the mid-1500s; possibly linked to an Old Norse word meaning to chase or drive back and forth.

yawl

Origin

Apparently from Low German and Middle Low German jolle, or Dutch jol, possibly ultimately from a Proto-Germanic derivative of Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewlos (“tube”), see also Lithuanian aulas, Norwegian aul, Hittite [script needed] (auli-, “tube-shaped organ in the neck”), Albanian hollë, Latin alvus.

yawn

Old English

From Old English ġinian and gānian, both meaning "to gape or yawn," tracing back to a very old Indo-European root for opening the mouth wide.

yawp

Origin

From Middle English yolpen, of imitative origin.

yay

Origin

A modern celebratory exclamation, likely shaped by "yeah" and "hooray."

Yayoi

Origin

Named after the Yayoi district of Tokyo, where artefacts from this period were first identified.

ye

Old English

From Old English ġē, the plural form of "you"; the "the" sense comes from an old printer's abbreviation where a special letter (thorn) was later mistaken for a Y.

yea

Old English

From Old English ġēa, an ancient Germanic word for "yes."

Yeager

German

From German Jäger ("hunter").

yeah

Origin

A relaxed, spoken variant of "yes"/"yea."

year

Old English

From Old English ġēar, from a very old Germanic and Indo-European root meaning "year" or "spring" — a distant cousin of the words "hora" and "hour."

yearbook

Origin

A straightforward compound of "year" and "book."

yearday

Origin

From Middle English ȝereday, ȝerdai (“anniversary”), from Old English *ġēardæġ (compare Old English ġeārdagas (“days of yore”)), from Proto-West Germanic *jāradag (“day of the year, yearly day”), from Proto-Germanic *jēradagaz, equivalent to year + day. Cognate with West Frisian jierdei (“birthday”), Dutch jaardag (“anniversary, birthday”), German Jahrtag (“anniversary”).

yeardley

Origin

Variant of Yardley.

yearling

Origin

From Middle English yerling, yerlyng, equivalent to year + -ling. Cognate with Dutch jaarling (“yearling”), German Jährling (“yearling”).

yearly

Old English

From Old English ġēarlīċ, formed from "year" plus the adjective/adverb suffix "-ly."

yearn

Old English

From Old English ġeornan ("to desire, beg"), from a Germanic root meaning "eager" or "willing."

yearning

Old English

From Old English ġierning, the noun form of "yearn."

yeartide

Origin

From year + -tide (“time, occasion”). Compare West Frisian jiertiid (“season”), Dutch jaartijd, jaargetijde (“season”), German Jahreszeit (“season”), Swedish årstid (“season”), Icelandic árstíð (“season”), Yiddish יאָרצײַט (yortsayt). Piecewise doublet of yahrzeit.

yeast

Old English

From Old English ġist/ġyst, from a Germanic root related to foam or froth — the same root behind the German word for sea foam.

Yeats

Origin

Alternative spelling of Yates.

yed

Origin

From Middle English ȝedden, ȝeddien, from Old English ġieddian (“to speak formally, discuss, speak with alliteration, recite, sing”), from ġiedd (“song, poem, saying, proverb, riddle, speech, story, tale, narrative, account, reckoning, reason”).

yedding

Origin

From Middle English ȝedding, ȝeddynge, from Old English ġieddung (“utterance, saying, prophecy, song, poetry, poetical recitation, meter”), from ġieddian (“to speak formally, discuss, speak with alliteration, recite, sing”), equivalent to yed + -ing.

yee

Origin

Borrowed from Cantonese 余 (jyu⁴) or Taishanese 余 (yi³) or Hokkien 余 (Î) or Cantonese 爾 /尔 (ji⁵).

yeehaw

Origin

Formed from "gee" and "haw," commands traditionally used to direct a horse left or right.

yeesh

Origin

Probably a blend of "yuck" or "yech" with "sheesh."

yeet

Origin

Popularized in March 2014 by the "yeet" dance which went viral on the now-defunct video sharing site Vine. The earliest known yeet dance is recorded in a YouTube video uploaded on February 3, 2014. However, examples of the interjection can be found much earlier, including a 1998 use by British presenter Jeremy Clarkson as well as a 2008 definition of "yeet yeet" on Urban Dictionary. As an expression used when throwing something, apparently coined by Vine user David Banna in a Vine uploaded on or before March 28, 2014 in which he throws a CD and yells out "YEET!", as well as a Vine uploaded April 4, 2014 of a high school student hurling an empty soda can and shouting "This bitch empty! YEET!" After the 2014 trend, the term faded into relative obscurity before resurging in 2018.

yefrem

Origin

Borrowed from Russian Ефре́м (Jefrém). Doublet of Ephraim.

Yeh

Origin

From the Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for 葉／叶 (Yeh⁴).

yehonatan

Origin

From Hebrew יהונתן.

Yehuda

Hebrew

Transliteration of Hebrew יְהוּדָה (yehudá). Doublet of Judah and Judas.