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Webster 1913 Edition

Yankee

Yan′kee

,
Noun.
[Commonly considered to be a corrupt pronunciation of the word
English
, or of the French word
Anglais
, by the native Indians of America. According to Thierry, a corruption of
Jankin
, a diminutive of
John
, and a nickname given to the English colonists of Connecticut by the Dutch settlers of New York. Dr. W. Gordon (“Hist. of the Amer. War,” ed, 1789, vol. i., pp. 324, 325) says it was a favorite cant word in Cambridge, Mass., as early as 1713, and that it meant
excellent
; as, a
yankee
good horse,
yankee
good cider, etc. Cf. Scot
yankie
a sharp, clever, and rather bold woman, and Prov. E. bow-
yankees
a kind of leggins worn by agricultural laborers.]
A nickname for a native or citizen of New England, especially one descended from old New England stock; by extension, an inhabitant of the Northern States as distinguished from a Southerner; also, applied sometimes by foreigners to any inhabitant of the United States.
From meanness first this Portsmouth
Yankey
rose,
And still to meanness all his conduct flows.
Oppression, A poem by an American (Boston, 1765).

Yan′kee

,
Adj.
Of or pertaining to a Yankee; characteristic of the Yankees.
The alertness of the
Yankee
aspect.
Hawthorne.
Yankee clover
.
(Bot.)
See
Japan clover
, under
Japan
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Yankee

YANKEE

,
Noun.
A corrupt pronunciation of the word English by the native Indians of America.

Definition 2024

Yankee

Yankee

See also: yankee

Translingual

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈjænki]

Symbol

Yankee

  1. The letter Y in the ICAO spelling alphabet.

Translations

English

Noun

Yankee ‎(plural Yankees)

  1. (chiefly outside USA) A native or inhabitant of the United States.
  2. (chiefly Southern USA) A native or inhabitant of the Northern United States.
  3. (chiefly Northern USA) A native or inhabitant of New England.
  4. (nautical) A large triangular headsail used in light or moderate winds and set on the fore topmast stay. Unlike a genoa it does not fill the whole fore triangle, but is set in combination with the working staysail.
  5. (baseball) A player that plays for the New York Yankees.
  6. A wager on four selections, consisting of 11 separate bets: six doubles, four trebles and a fourfold accumulator. A minimum two selections must win to gain a return.
    • 1980, New Scientist (volume 85, number 1199, 20 March 1980)
      Betting is complicated with win bets, place bets, each-way bets and complex bets such as doubles, trebles, Yankees and the like.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

Yankee ‎(third-person singular simple present Yankees, present participle Yankeeing, simple past and past participle Yankeed)

  1. (dated, slang, US, Canada, sometimes offensive) to cheat, trick or swindle somebody; to misrepresent something

Manx

Etymology

Borrowing from English Yankee.

Noun

Yankee m ‎(genitive singular Yankee, plural Yankeeyn)

  1. Yankee

yankee

yankee

See also: Yankee

Spanish

Adjective

yankee m, f ‎(plural yankees)

  1. Yankee, American

Noun

yankee m, f ‎(plural yankees)

  1. Yankee, American

Etymology

First attested in 1683, as a name applied disparagingly by Dutch settlers in Nieuw Amsterdam (New York) to English colonists in neighboring Connecticut. It may be from Dutch Janke ‎(“Little John”), the old diminutive form of the common personal name Jan, or it may be from Jan Kees, the familiar form of "Johan Cornelius", or a variant of Jan Kaas, literally "John Cheese", the generic nickname the Flemings used for Dutchmen. It originally seems to have been applied insultingly to Dutch, especially freebooters, before they turned around and applied it to the English. In English it was a term of contempt (1750s) before it came to be used as a general term for "a native of New England" (1765). The shortened form Yank was first recorded in reference to "an American" in 1778. James Fenimore Cooper suggested that it was a corruption of "English" via the intermediate form "Yengeese."

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈjæŋk.i/
  • (US, also) IPA(key): /ˈjeɪŋk.i/
  • Rhymes: -æŋk

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