yankee
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AI In plain words
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
Yankee¹
- /ˈjæŋ.ki/
- /ˈjeɪ̯ŋ.ki/
- /ˈjɛ̃ŋ.ki/
Sounds like yankee · Rhymes with -æŋki
Where it comes from
First attested in 1765, when it was described as "a name of derision … given by the Southern people on the Continent to those of New England". Various suggestions have been made as to its origin: that it derives from a Cherokee word meaning "slave" or "coward" and was applied to the New Englanders by the Virginians because the former refused to aid the latter in a war against the Cherokees; that it derives from Yengees, an Indian corruption of English; and that it derives from Janke, a pet form of the common Dutch forename Jan. The OED regards the last of these as "perhaps the most plausible".
noun Yankees · Yanky · Yankey · Yengee
- A native or inhabitant of the northern United States. […]so that I couldn't help telling her, sir, that in our country, leastways in Virginia (they say the Yankees are very pert), young people don't speak of their elders so.
- A native or inhabitant of New England.
- An anglo, someone without French ancestry; a native or inhabitant of the rest of the United States.
-
A native or inhabitant of the United States, in general.
...in a short time, a kind of infectious mirth and pride in their bargains took possession of the place, and every one bought something, holding out their purchases to view, and praising them in the words and phraseology of the young yankees, who, finding their own importance, were not slow to avail
Similar: American, US American, Statesider, Americunt, Ameritard, Seppo, septic, United Statesian, United Statian, Usanian, USian, US-ian
-
Any individual associated with the Union; that is, the United States federal government, during the American Civil War.
Opposite: Confederate, southron, reb
- A player for the New York Yankees.
- 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.
- A wager on four selections, consisting of 11 separate bets: six doubles, four trebles and a fourfold accumulator. Betting is complicated with win bets, place bets, each-way bets and complex bets such as doubles, trebles, Yankees and the like.
verb Yankees · Yankeeing · Yankeed · Yanky · Yankey
- to cheat, trick or swindle somebody; to misrepresent something Kentuckians reportedly regarded a Yankee “as a sort of Jesuit” because of his religious zeal, while in Illinois the term yankeed was synonymous with cheated.
yankee²
- /ˈjæŋ.ki/
- /ˈjeɪ̯ŋ.ki/
- /ˈjɛ̃ŋ.ki/
noun yankees
- A headsail resembling a genoa or a jib but with a high-cut clew, normally used together with a staysail. A sailing boat is typically equipped with three yankee sails of different sizes, number one being the largest.
- Alternative letter-case form of Yankee from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet
- Obsolete form of Yankee (“either a US Northerner or any US American”). As the coach was by law limited to a slow pace on the bridge, we had leisure to read the wayward fancies of our predecessors inscribed in chalk, and many a true yankee name did we recognize;—the bridge is a kind of traveller’s register.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: northerner, northern, new englander, yank, connecticut, doodle, doodles, federal, american, unionist, union soldier, uncle sam, statesider, u.s. citizen, federal soldier, yankee-doodle
Translations
Every language
noun native or inhabitant of the Northern USA
| Español | gabacho |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 양키 yangki |
| 日本語 | ヤンキー yankī |
| Deutsch | Ami |
| Русский | я́нки jánki |
noun native or inhabitant of New England
| Español | yanqui |
|---|
noun native or inhabitant of the USA
| Español | yanqui |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 양키 yangki |
| 日本語 | ヤンキー yankī, アメ公 amekō |
| 中文 | 洋基 Yángjī, 美國佬 /美国佬 Měiguólǎo, 揚基 /扬基 Yángjī |
| हिन्दी | यांकी yāṅkī |
| Português | ianque |
| Français | Yankee |
| Deutsch | Ami, Yankee |
| Italiano | yankee |
| Ελληνικά | Γιάνκης Giánkis |
| Română | yankeu |
| Русский | я́нки jánki, пиндо́с pindós, америко́с amerikós |
| العربية | يَانْكِي yānkī |
Talk about this word "yankee." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/yankee. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. yankee. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/yankee "yankee." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/yankee.Cite this
@misc{yankee_2026,
title = {yankee},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/yankee},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
