Although Y isn’t a common letter with which to begin a word, many common words begin with the letter Y: you, your (and, of course, the often forgotten you’re), year, yes, yummy, Yahoo. . . . .
Well, here are some of the less common words that begin with Y. You have likely heard of some of them:
yabba – large Jamaican earthenware or wooden vessel
yabber – talk or jabber
yaff – to bark like a snarling dog
yaffingale – green woodpecker
yahrzeit – anniversary of the death of a parent, in the Jewish religion, commemorated by the lighting of a 24-hour candle
yakitori – Japanese dish, resembling shish kabob
yakow – animal crossbred from male yak and domestic cow (not cak?)
yapness – hunger (want some yakow?)
yare – ready, prepared
yatter – to talk foolishly about trivial things
yauld – active, nimble (pretty good, since y’auld!)
yaw– to sway back and forth across its course, as a ship moved by high waves
yawp – to utter a loud, harsh cry or call
yegg– a burglar of safes
yente – a woman gossip or busybody (most of us know this word!)
yeuk – to itch
yex – to hiccup, belch or spit
yill – to ply with ale
ylem – in some theories of cosmogony, the primordial substance fro which all things are said to have been derived
yob – hoodlum
yogini – female yogi (what else?) (yogette??)
yoicks – a cry used to urge on the hounds in fox hunting
yordim – emigrants who leave Israel
yowie – a little ewe (not ewie?)
yuan – basic monetary unit of China
yuke – to itch
yusho – skin-staining disease caused by contaminated rice oil
And notice how many interjections begin with Y!
Yikes! Yo! Yum! Yuck! Yech! Yes! Yippee! Yow! Yup! Yoohoo!
THE YEND.
I did not know one of these words
But now you do!
What dictionary did you use?
This is a really old post, so I really don’t remember. I probably used a variety of sources.
Yodel.
And, the wonderful Yoda from That Movie Series!
Yodel-a-ay-hee-hoo!
Arlene–Just validates my seventh grade desire to “work with words.” Since then: novelist, book editor, PR director, Copywriter, copyeditor, lit agent, TV interviewer, actor, teacher, lecturer, etc., etc., etc. By the way, what happened to “yclept”? And “yoni”?
I don’t remember what happened to yclept….yoni seemed “too adult.” (LOL) Thanks for the additional words, though!
This is great! I’ve enjoyed this series. I must admit, I never heard of 90% of these Y words before! I need to spend more time with my dictionary.
Thank you! Glad you have enjoyed it! Don’t worry – no one has heard of most of these words including me!