Weird and Wonderful Words Part 10: Oh, Y?

The Letter “Y”

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.