yoke
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yoke¹
- /jəʊk/ UK
- /joʊk/ US
Sounds like yolk · Rhymes with -əʊk
Where it comes from
From Middle English iuc, jok, yok, yoke, ȝok, ȝook, from Old English ġeoc, ġioc, ioc (“yoke”), from Proto-West Germanic *juk, from Proto-Germanic *juką (“yoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *yugóm (“yoke”), from *yewg- (“to join, yoke”). Doublet of yuga, jugum, yoga and possibly yogh.
Senses 3.1 (“area of arable land”) and 3.2 (“amount of work done with draught animals”) probably referred to the area of land that could generally be ploughed by yoked draught animals within a given time.
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Juk (“yoke”), Cimbrian jòch (“yoke”), Dutch juk (“yoke; burden”), German Joch (“yoke”), Luxembourgish Jach (“yoke”), Danish åg (“yoke”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Swedish ok (“yoke”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk åk (“yoke”), Gothic 𐌾𐌿𐌺 (juk, “yoked pair of animals”); also Breton yev (“yoke”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic cuing (“yoke; bond, tie”), Manx quing (“yoke”), Welsh iau (“yoke”), Latin iugum, jugum (“yoke”), Greek ζυγός (zygós, “even; twin”), Latvian jūgs (“yoke; bondage; cart”), Lithuanian jungas (“yoke”), Bulgarian и́го (ígo), юго (jugo, “yoke”), Czech jho (“yoke”), Kashubian jigò, jugò (“yoke”), Macedonian иго (igo, “yoke”), Polabian jaiďü (“yoke”), Russian и́го (ígo, “yoke”), Serbo-Croatian и́го, ígo (“yoke”), Slovene igo (“yoke”), Ukrainian і́го (ího, “yoke”), Armenian լուծ (luc, “harness, yoke”), Persian یوغ (yuġ, “yoke”), Hittite 𒄿𒌑𒃷 (yukan, “yoke”), Tocharian A yokäm (“door”), Sanskrit युग (yuga, “yoke; brace; couple, pair”).
noun yokes
- A bar or frame by which two oxen or other draught animals are joined at their necks enabling them to pull a cart, plough, etc.; two draught animals connected by such a yoke; (by extension) a device attached to a single draught animal for the same purpose. Thy seruant in walking thy pastures aboute: / for yokes, forkes and rakes, let him loke to finde oute. / And after at leyser let this be his hier: / to trimme them and make them at home by the fier.
- Any of various linking or supporting objects that resembles a yoke (sense 1.1); a crosspiece, a curved bar, etc. Steam Engines. […] The valve rods are coupled by connecting-rods […] and yokes[…], to eccentrics[…].
-
A pole carried on the neck and shoulders of a person, used for carrying a pair of buckets, etc., one at each end of the pole; a carrying pole.
And whenever to rest she her buckets set down, / She jingled her yokes to and fro, / And her yokes she might jingle till morn—a rude clown, / Ere he it seem'd offered to go.
Similar: pingo, milkmaid's yoke, shoulder pole
-
Any of various devices with crosspieces used to control an aircraft; specifically, the control column.
Similar: control wheel
-
A similar device used as a game controller.
Similar: control wheel
- well-developed muscles of the neck and shoulders. Nothing says you're a dedicated lifter and true athlete more than a massive yoke—that is, the muscles of the neck, traps, and rear delts.
- The part of an item of clothing which fits around the shoulders or the hips from which the rest of the garment hangs, and which is often distinguished by having a double thickness of material, or decorative flourishes. The country children thereabouts wore their dresses to their shoe-tops, but this city child was dressed in what was then called the "Kate Greenaway" manner, and her red cashmere frock, gathered full from the yoke, came almost to the floor.
- Originally, a metal piece connecting the poles of a magnet or electromagnet; later, a part of magnetic circuit (such as in a generator or motor) not surrounded by windings (“wires wound around the cores of electrical transformers”).
- The electromagnetic coil that deflects the electron beam in a cathode ray tube.
- A Y-shaped stand used to support a blowpipe or punty while reheating in the glory hole.
- A fitting placed across the head of the rudder with a line attached at each end by which a boat may be steered; in modern use it is primarily found in sailing canoes and kayaks. A light whale-boat, handsomely painted, and fitted out with stern seats, yoke, tiller-ropes, &c. hung on the starboard quarter, and was used as the gig. […] The bow-man had charge of the boat-hook and painter, and the coxswain of the rudder, yoke, and stern-sheets.
- A frame or convex crosspiece from which a bell is hung.
- A collar placed on the neck of a conquered person or prisoner to restrain movement.
- A frame placed on the neck of an animal such as a cow, pig, or goose to prevent passage through a fence or other barrier. Strong yoke for a hog, with a twicher and rings, / with tar in a tarpot, for dangerous things: […]
- Chiefly in pass under the yoke: a raised yoke (sense 1.1), or a symbolic yoke formed from two spears installed upright in the ground with another spear connecting their tops, under which a defeated army was made to march as a sign of subjugation. [H]is will and pleaſure was they ſhould paſſe all under the yoke or gallows: the maner wherof is this. They took three ſpears or javelins, and ſet two of them pitched in the ground endlong, and their overthwart faſtned unto the other. Under this kind of gallows the Dictator compelled the Æquians to
- A pair of draught animals, especially oxen, yoked together to pull something. I have bought fyve yooke of oxẽ [oxen]⸝ ãd I must goo to prove thẽ⸝ I praye the have me excuſed.
- The bond or connection between things that are linked in some way.
- A pair of things linked in some way. [T]heſe that accuſe him in his intent towards our wiues, are a yoake of his diſcarded men: very rogues, now they be out of ſeruice.
- A carriage, a horse and cart; (by extension, generally) a car or other vehicle. […] I missed the train home and I couldn't get any kind of a yoke to give me a lift for, as luck would have it, there was a mass meeting that same day over in Castletownroche and all the cars in the country were there.
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A miscellaneous object; a gadget.
These three yokes [AK-47s] we're throwin' them up to them [CIRA]^([sic]) either way…
Similar: yokibus
- A chap, a fellow.
- A pill of a psychoactive drug.
- An area of arable land, specifically one consisting of a quarter of a suling, or around 50–60 acres (20–24 hectares); hence, a small manor or piece of land. Of this ſuling Ralph de Curbeſpine holds one yoke and an half, which is and was worth ſeparately ten ſhillings. Adelold had half a ſuling and half a yoke, and in the time of K. Edward the Confeſſor it was worth 40 ſhillings, and afterwards 20 ſhillings, now 40 ſhillings.
- An amount of work done with draught animals, lasting about half a day; (by extension) an amount or shift of any work. to work two yokes
- A bond of love, especially marriage; also, a bond of friendship or partnership; an obligation or task borne by two or more people. [I]n companions / That do conuerſe and waſte the time together, / Whoſe ſoules do beare an equall yoke of loue, / There muſt be needs a like proportion / Of lineaments, of manners, and of ſpirit […]
- Something which oppresses or restrains a person; a burden. Their mothers bed-chamber ſhould not be ſafe, / For theſe baſe bond-men to the yoake of Rome.
yoke²
- /jəʊk/ UK
- /joʊk/ US
Sounds like yolk · Rhymes with -əʊk
Where it comes from
From Middle English yoken, yoke, ȝoken (“to put a harness or yoke on a draught animal or pair of such animals, to yoke; to attach (an animal to a cart, plough, etc.) with a yoke; to lock (arms) in wrestling; to bind (oneself or someone) to something”) [and other forms], from Old English ġeocian, iucian, from Old English ġeoc (“yoke”) (see etymology 1) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns).
verb yokes · yoking · yoked
- To join (several draught animals) together with a yoke; also, to fasten a yoke (on one or more draught animals) to pull a cart, plough, etc.; or to attach (a cart, plough, etc.) to a draught animal. Bubulcus, […] An oxeheard, or coweheard: a driuer of oxen and kine: he that yoketh oxen, and […] goeth to plowe with them.
- To put (one's arm or arms) around someone's neck, waist, etc.; also, to surround (someone's neck, waist, etc.) with one's arms.
- To put (something) around someone's neck like a yoke; also, to surround (someone's neck) with something.
- To place a collar on the neck of (a conquered person or prisoner) to restrain movement.
- To place a frame on the neck of (an animal such as a cow, pig, or goose) to prevent passage through a fence or other barrier.
- To bring (two or more people or things) into a close relationship (often one that is undesired); to connect, to link, to unite. Ranchers were yoked together with farmers on the issue.
- To bring into or keep (someone) in bondage or a state of submission; to enslave or subject to confine, to restrain; to oppress, to subjugate. For thys frayltie, that yoketh all mankynde, / Thou shalt awake, and rue this mysereye: / Rue on Syon.
- To be joined to (another person) in wedlock (often with the implication that it is a burdensome state); to be or become married to (someone). God ſir be a man, / Thinke euery bearded fellow, that's but yoak'd, / May draw with you, […]
- To be or become connected, linked, or united in a relationship; to have dealings with. [I]f you will paſſe / To where you are bound, you muſt enquire your way, / Which you are out of, with a gentler ſpirit, / Or neuer be ſo Noble as a Conſull, / Nor yoake with him for Tribune.
- To be or become joined in wedlock; to be married, to wed. God forbid, that I ſhould wiſh them ſeuer'd, / Whom God hath ioyn'd together: / I, and 'twere pittie, to ſunder them, / That yoake ſo well together.
yoke³
- /jəʊk/ UK
- /joʊk/ US
Sounds like yolk · Rhymes with -əʊk
Where it comes from
See yolk.
noun
- Misspelling of yolk
Yoke⁴
noun
-
radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter Y.
Similar: Yankee
Yoke⁵
proper noun
- A language spoken in Indonesia
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: brace, span, link, coupling, pair, couple, twosome, duad, twain, dyad, duo, duet, doubleton, couplet, distich, heel
Translations
Every language
noun device with crosspieces used to control an aircraft
| Español | yugo |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 操縦輪 soujyōrin, ヨーク yõku |
| 中文 | 駕駛桿 /驾驶杆 jiàshǐgǎn |
| Français | manche, manche à balai |
noun unit of land area notionally equivalent to the area a team of yoked draft animals can work in a day
| Español | yugada |
|---|
noun bar or frame by which two oxen or other draught animals are joined at their necks enabling them to pull a cart, plough, etc.; device attached to a single draugh
| Español | yugo, ubio, toza, dentejón, jubo |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 멍에 meong'e |
| 日本語 | 軛 kubiki, 頸木 kubiki, 衡 kubiki |
| 中文 | 軛 /轭 è, 牛軛 /牛轭 niú'è |
| हिन्दी | जुआ juā |
| Kiswahili | nira |
| Português | jugo |
| Français | joug |
| Deutsch | Joch |
| Italiano | giogo |
| Ελληνικά | ζυγός zygós |
| Română | jug |
| Русский | ярмо́ jarmó, хому́т xomút, и́го ígo |
| Tiếng Việt | ách |
| עברית | עֹל ʿol, צֶמֶד ṣemeḏ |
noun part of an item of clothing which fits around the shoulders or the hips from which the rest of the garment hangs
| 中文 | 育克 yùkè |
|---|---|
| Italiano | sprone, carré |
| Русский | коке́тка kokétka |
noun electromagnetic coil that deflects the electron beam in a cathode ray tube
| Español | yugo |
|---|
noun frame or convex crosspiece from which a bell is hung
| Italiano | ceppo |
|---|
noun collar placed on the neck of a conquered person or prisoner to restrain movement
| Español | cepo |
|---|
noun pair of draught animals yoked together to pull something
| Español | yunta, emparejo (disused) |
|---|---|
| Português | junta |
| Deutsch | Zug |
| Italiano | coppia, tiro |
| العربية | فَدَّان faddān |
| עברית | צֶמֶד ṣemeḏ, פַּדָּן paddān |
noun something which represses or restrains a person — see also burden
| Español | yugo |
|---|---|
| Português | jugo |
| Français | joug |
| Deutsch | Joch, Last, Kreuz |
| Русский | и́го ígo |
| العربية | نِير nīr |
| עברית | עֹל ʿol |
verb to join (several draught animals) together with a yoke; also, to fasten a yoke (on one or more draught animals) to pull a cart, plough, etc.; or to attach (a ca
| Español | uncir, juncir, enyugar, uñir |
|---|---|
| Italiano | aggiogare |
| Română | înjuga |
verb to bring (two or more people or things) into a close relationship — see also connect, link, unite
| Русский | объединя́ть obʺjedinjátʹ |
|---|
Talk about this word "yoke." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/yoke. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. yoke. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/yoke "yoke." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/yoke.Cite this
@misc{yoke_2026,
title = {yoke},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/yoke},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
