yacht

English

 yacht on Wikipedia

Etymology

Circa 1557; variant of yaught, earlier yeaghe (“light, fast-sailing ship”), from Dutch jacht (“yacht; hunt”), in older spelling jaght(e), short for jaghtschip (“light sailing vessel, fast pirate ship”, literally “pursuit ship”), compound of jacht and schip (“ship”).

In the 16th century the Dutch built light, fast ships to chase the ships of pirates and smugglers from the coast. The ship was introduced to England in 1660 when the Dutch East India Company presented one to King Charles II, who used it as a pleasure boat, after which it was copied by British shipbuilders as a pleasure craft for wealthy gentlemen.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: yŏt, IPA^(key): /jɒt/
• (US) enPR: yät, IPA^(key): /jɑːt/, /jɑt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒt

Noun

yacht (plural yachts)

1. A slick and light ship for making pleasure trips or racing on water, having sails but often motor-powered. At times used as a residence offshore on a dock.

   Would you like to go sailing on my uncle’s yacht?

   You are a true yachtsman! Are you a member of the local yacht club?

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.

2. Any vessel used for private, noncommercial purposes.
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “I don’t mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, […], the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts, […], the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!"

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

yacht (third-person singular simple present yachts, present participle yachting, simple past and past participle yachted)

1. (intransitive) To sail, voyage, or race in a yacht.

Translations

Anagrams

• Cathy, tachy, tachy-, yatch

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English yacht, from Dutch jacht.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɔt/, /jot/, (Canada) /jat/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

yacht m (plural yachts)

1. yacht

Further reading

• “yacht”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English yacht.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɔt/
• Rhymes: -ɔt

Noun

yacht m (invariable)

1. yacht
2. the letter Y in the Italian spelling alphabet

References

Further reading

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

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from English yacht.

Noun

yacht ? (plural yachts)

1. (Jersey) yacht

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:

yacht

Wikipedia ^no

Etymology

From Dutch jacht, via English yacht.

Noun

yacht m (definite singular yachten, indefinite plural yachter, definite plural yachtene)

1. a yacht

References

• “yacht” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Dutch jacht, via English yacht.

Noun

yacht m (definite singular yachten, indefinite plural yachtar, definite plural yachtane)

1. a yacht

References

• “yacht” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish

Alternative forms

• jakt

Etymology

Borrowed from English yacht.

Noun

yacht c

1. yacht

Declension

Derived terms

• lyxyacht
• segelyacht
• yachtklubb

Further reading

• yacht in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• yacht in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• yacht in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)