"Y" Word Origins

Yoshida

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 吉田 (Yoshida).

Yoshiko

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 美子, 芳子 (よしこ, Yoshiko, literally “good, excellent child”).

Yoshino

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 吉野 (Yoshino).

you

Old English

From Old English ēow, the object form of "ye," tracing back through Proto-Germanic to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "you" (plural).

you're welcome

Origin

From 1907 (as reply to thank you).

Youn

Origin

Borrowed from Korean 윤(尹) (Yun).

young

Latin

From Old English ġeong, going back through Proto-Germanic to a Proto-Indo-European root also behind the Latin-derived word "juvenile."

youngblood

Origin · 1900

A straightforward compound of young and blood, used since the 20th century for fresh new talent or energy.

youngling

Origin

From Middle English youngling, ȝongelyng, ȝungling, from Old English ġeongling (“a youth, youngling”), from Proto-West Germanic *jungiling, from Proto-Germanic *jungalingaz, *jungilingaz (“young man, youngling”). Doublet of Yngling. By surface analysis, young + -ling.

youngly

Origin

From Middle English yongly, ȝongly, ȝunglich, from Old English ġeonglīċ (“youthful”), equivalent to young + -ly.

youngsome

Origin

From young + -some.

youngster

Origin · 1600

Built from young plus the suffix -ster, which forms nouns naming a type of person; first recorded in the early 1600s.

younker

Origin

Borrowed from Middle Dutch joncker (Dutch jonker, jonkheer), a compound equivalent to jong (“young”) + here (“lord”). Compare junker.

your

Old English

From Old English ēower, the possessive form of "you," ultimately from a Proto-Germanic root shared with Dutch jouw and German euer.

yours

Origin · 1300

Formed from your plus -s, on the model of "his," and recorded since the 1300s; it eventually replaced the older form "yourn" in standard English.

yourself

Middle English

From Middle English yourself, equivalent to your + -self.

yourselves

Origin

Morphologically your + -selves.

yous

Origin

Formed by adding the regular plural ending -s to you, filling a gap since standard English "you" doesn't distinguish singular from plural.

Youse

German

Americanized spelling of German Jauss.

Yousef

Arabic

Borrowed from Arabic يُوسُف (yūsuf), equivalent to English Joseph.

Youssef

Arabic

Borrowed from Arabic يُوسِف (yūsif).

youth

Old English

From Old English ġeoguþ, formed from the same root as young plus an abstract noun ending, so it originally just meant "the state of being young."

youthen

Origin

From youth + -en.

youthful

Origin

Formed from youth plus -ful.

youthless

Origin

From youth + -less.

YouTube

Origin

A brand name combining "you" with "tube," an old informal word for television, suggesting a platform where ordinary people broadcast their own content.

yowl

Origin

From Middle English youlen, goulen, from Old Norse gaula (“to low, bellow, howl, scream”), related to Icelandic gaula (“to yell, howl, roar”), Faroese geyla (“to bawl, squall, shout, yell, bellow”), Norwegian gaule (“to roar, howl, whine, weep noisily”), dialectal Swedish gjöla, Scots gowl (“to howl, yell, roar”), Shetlandic Scots gjol. Initial y- possibly influenced by Middle English yollen, yellen (“to yell”).

Yoyo

Origin

Genericized trademark. Likely from Ilocano yóyo or another Philippine cognate.

yr

Old English

A learned borrowing of the Old English rune name ȳr, whose exact original meaning is uncertain, though it may be linked to "yew" or a bow made of yew wood.

YT

English

In the first sense a clipping of YouTube; in the second, a consonantal spelling of white.

yu

Chinese

Borrowed from Chinese 玉 (yù), meaning "jade."

yuan

Japanese

From Mandarin yuán, originally meaning "round," referring to a round coin — the same root behind the Japanese yen and Korean won.

yucca

Origin

The name was borrowed from a word for cassava and mistakenly applied to this unrelated plant after early botanists confused the two.

yuck

Origin · 1960

Likely imitative of a gagging or retching sound, first recorded in English in the 1960s.

yucky

Origin

Formed from yuck plus -y.

yue

Chinese

From the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 龠 (yuè), the name for the ancient volume unit; the language sense is a separate, unrelated use of the same romanized spelling.

yuen

Cantonese

Borrowed from Cantonese pronunciations of the surnames 袁 or 阮.

yuge

Origin

Phonetic rendition of huge in imitation of a New York City accent, or other accents with reduction of /hj/.

Yugoslav

Origin

From Serbo-Croatian Jugoslaven, meaning "southern Slav."

Yugoslavia

Origin

From Serbo-Croatian Jugoslavija, literally "land of the South Slavs," combining jug ("south") and Slavija ("Slavia").

Yugoslavian

Origin

Formed from Yugoslavia plus the adjective-forming suffix -an.

Yui

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese ゆい (Yui).

yuk

Origin

An imitative word mimicking the sound of a big laugh, closely related to "yuck."

Yukawa

Japanese

Borrowed directly from the Japanese surname 湯川 (Yukawa).

Yuki

Origin

The tribal name probably comes from the Wintu word yu·keh, meaning "enemies," which is how neighboring peoples referred to the Yuki.

Yukie

Japanese

Borrowed from the Japanese name ゆきえ (Yukie).

Yukiko

Japanese

Borrowed from the Japanese name ゆきこ (Yukiko).

Yukio

Japanese

Borrowed from the Japanese name ゆきお (Yukio).