Yankee

[ yang-kee ]

noun
  1. a native or inhabitant of the United States.

  2. a native or inhabitant of New England.

  1. a native or inhabitant of a northern U.S. state, especially of one of the northeastern states that sided with the Union in the American Civil War.

  2. a federal or northern soldier in the American Civil War.

  3. a word used in communications to represent the letter Y.

  4. Military. the NATO name for a class of streamlined, nuclear-powered Soviet submarines, with 16 multiple-warhead ballistic missiles: first produced for the Soviet Navy in the 1960s; in service with the Russian Navy 1992–95.

adjective
  1. of, relating to, or characteristic of a Yankee or Yankees: Yankee ingenuity.

Origin of Yankee

1
An Americanism dating back to 1680–90 of uncertain origin; perhaps back formation from Dutch Jan Kees “John Cheese,” nickname (mistaken for plural) applied by the Dutch of colonial New York to English settlers in Connecticut

Words Nearby Yankee

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How to use Yankee in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for Yankee

Yankee

informal Yank

/ (ˈjæŋkɪ) /


noun
  1. often derogatory a native or inhabitant of the US; American

  2. a native or inhabitant of New England

  1. a native or inhabitant of the Northern US, esp a Northern soldier in the Civil War

  2. communications a code word for the letter y

  3. finance a bond issued in the US by a foreign borrower

adjective
  1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Yankees

Origin of Yankee

1
C18: perhaps from Dutch Jan Kees John Cheese, nickname used derisively by Dutch settlers in New York to designate English colonists in Connecticut

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Yankee

Yankee

Originally a nickname for people from New England, now applied to anyone from the United States. Even before the American Revolutionary War, the term Yankee was used by the British to refer, derisively, to the American colonists. Since the Civil War, American southerners have called all northerners Yankees. Since World War I, the rest of the world has used the term to refer to all Americans.

Notes for Yankee

The expression “Yankee, go home” reflects foreign resentment of American presence or involvement in other nations' affairs.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.