Yankee

Translingual

Yankee
Yankee
Yankee

Alternative forms

• yankee

Etymology

From English Yankee.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

Yankee

1. (international standards) NATO, ICAO, ITU & IMO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for the letter Y.
2. (nautical) Signal flag for the letter Y.
3. (time zone) UTC−12:00

Translations

References

English

Alternative forms

• Yanky (archaic)
• Yengee (obsolete)

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 the 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): /ˈjæŋ.ki/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æŋki

Noun

Yankee (plural Yankees)

1. (chiefly outside the US) A native or inhabitant of the United States.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:American

   • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. , volume II, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC, page 194:

     ...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 themselves of it,...

3. (chiefly Southern US) A native or inhabitant of the Northern United States.
   • 1857–1859, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, chapter XXXIV, in The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury & Evans, , published 1858–1859, →OCLC:

     […] 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.

   • 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC, part I, page 71:

     “So, he is the father of Emmie Slattery’s baby,” thought Scarlett. “Oh, well. What else can you expect from a Yankee man and a white-trash girl?”

4. (chiefly Northern US) A native or inhabitant of New England.
5. (chiefly southern Louisiana) An Anglo, as opposed to someone with French ancestry; a native or inhabitant of the rest of the United States.
6. (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.
7. (baseball) A player for the New York Yankees.
8. 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 March 20, New Scientist, volume 85, number 1199:

     Betting is complicated with win bets, place bets, each-way bets and complex bets such as doubles, trebles, Yankees and the like.

9. (American Civil War) Someone on the Union side.

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

Anagrams

• Keaney

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from English Yankee.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

Yankee m anim

1. Yankee

Declension

Further reading

• Yankee in Internetová jazyková příručka

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English Yankee.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɛn.ki/
• Rhymes: -ɛnki
• Hyphenation: Yàn‧kee

Noun

Yankee m or f by sense (invariable)

1. Yankee
2. (nautical) Synonym of uccellina (“jigger topgallant staysail”)

Adjective

Yankee (invariable)

1. (relational) Yankee

Further reading

• Yankee in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Manx

Etymology

Borrowed from English Yankee.

Noun

Yankee m (genitive singular Yankee, plural Yankeeyn)

1. Yankee

Mutation

Nigerian Pidgin

Etymology

Borrowed from English Yankee.

Noun

Yankee

1. The United States of America.