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noun, plural Y's or Ys, y's or ys.

the 25th letter of the English alphabet, a semivowel.

any spoken sound represented by the letter Y or y, as in yet, city, or rhythm.

something having the shape of a Y .

a written or printed representation of the letter Y or y.

a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter Y or y.

Relevant Questions

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Y is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged

the Y, Informal. the YMCA, YWCA, YMHA, or YWHA.

yen¹ ( def 1 ).

Symbol.

the 25th in order or in a series, or, when I is omitted, the 24th.

( sometimes lowercase ) the medieval Roman numeral for 150. Compare Roman numerals.

( sometimes lowercase ) Electricity, admittance.

Chemistry, yttrium.

Biochemistry, tyrosine.

Symbol, Mathematics.

an unknown quantity.

(in Cartesian coordinates) the y-axis.

a prefix occurring in certain obsolete words ( ywis ) and especially in archaic past participles: yclad.

Also, i-.

Origin:
Middle English y-, i- (reduced variant a-), Old English ge-, prefix with perfective, intensifying, or collective force; cognate with Old Frisian, Old Saxon ge-, gi-, Gothic ga-, German ge-; compare perhaps Latin com- com-

a native English suffix of adjectives meaning “characterized by or inclined to” the substance or action of the word or stem to which the suffix is attached: juicy; grouchy; rumbly; dreamy.

Also, -ey¹.

Origin:
Old English -ig; cognate with German -ig; compare perhaps Latin -icus, Greek -ikos

a noun-forming suffix with a variety of functions in contemporary English, added to monosyllabic bases to create words that are almost always informal. Its earliest use, probably still productive, was to form endearing or familiar names or common nouns from personal names, other nouns, and adjectives ( Billy; Susie; birdie; doggie; granny; sweetie; tummy ). The hypocoristic feature is absent in recent coinages, however, which are simply informal and sometimes pejorative ( boonies; cabby; groupie; hippy; looie; Okie; preemie; preppy; rookie ). Another function of -y², (-ie) is to form from adjectives nouns that denote exemplary or extreme instances of the quality named by the adjective ( baddie; biggie; cheapie; toughie ), sometimes focusing on a restricted, usually unfavorable sense of the adjective ( sharpie; sickie; whitey ). A few words in which the informal character of -y², (-ie) has been lost are now standard in formal written English ( goalie; movie ).

Also, -ie.

Compare -o, -sy.

Origin:
late Middle English (Scots), orig. in names; of uncertain origin; baby and puppy, now felt as having this suffix, may be of different derivation

a suffix of various origins used in the formation of action nouns from verbs ( inquiry ), also found in other abstract nouns: carpentry; infamy.

Origin:
representing Latin -ia, -ium; Greek -ia, -eia, -ion; French -ie; German -ie

yard; yards.

year; years.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To y

Collins

World English Dictionary

y or Y (waɪ)

—n , pl y's, Y's, Ys
1.	the 25th letter of the modern English alphabet
2.	a speech sound represented by this letter, in English usually a semivowel, as in yawn, or a vowel, as in symbol or shy
3.	a. something shaped like a Y
	b. (in combination): a Y-cross

Y or Y

—n

y or Y (waɪ)

—n , pl y's, Y's, Ys
1.	the 25th letter of the modern English alphabet
2.	a speech sound represented by this letter, in English usually a semivowel, as in yawn, or a vowel, as in symbol or shy
3.	a. something shaped like a Y
	b. (in combination): a Y-cross

Y or Y

—n

y

—*symbol for*
1.	the y-axis or a coordinate measured along the y-axis in a Cartesian coordinate system
2.	an algebraic variable

Y

—*symbol for*
1.	any unknown, unspecified, or variable factor, number, person, or thing
2.	chem yttrium
3.	currency
	a. yen
	b. yuan

y.

—*abbreviation for*
	year

Y.

—*abbreviation for*
	YMCA or YWCA

-y or -ey¹

—*suffix forming adjectives*
1.	(from nouns) characterized by; consisting of; filled with; relating to; resembling: sunny; sandy; smoky; classy
2.	(from verbs) tending to; acting or existing as specified: leaky; shiny

[from Old English -ig, -ǣg]

-ey or -ey¹

—*suffix forming adjectives*

[from Old English -ig, -ǣg]

-y, -ie or -ey²

—*suffix*
1.	denoting smallness and expressing affection and familiarity: a doggy; a granny; Jamie
2.	a person or thing concerned with or characterized by being: a groupie; a fatty

[C14: from Scottish -ie, -y, familiar suffix occurring originally in names, as in Jamie (James)]

-ie, -ie or -ey²

—*suffix*

[C14: from Scottish -ie, -y, familiar suffix occurring originally in names, as in Jamie (James)]

-ey, -ie or -ey²

—*suffix*

[C14: from Scottish -ie, -y, familiar suffix occurring originally in names, as in Jamie (James)]

-y³

—*suffix forming nouns*
1.	(from verbs) indicating the act of doing what is indicated by the verbal element: inquiry
2.	(esp with combining forms of Greek, Latin, or French origin) indicating state, condition, or quality: geography; jealousy

[from Old French -ie, from Latin -ia]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

a late-developing letter in Eng. Called ipsilon in Ger., upsilon in Gk., the Eng. name is of obscure origin. The sound at the beginning of yard, yes, yield, etc. is from O.E. words with initial g- as in got and y- as in yet, which were considered the same sound and often transcribed as a character that

looks something like 3 (but with a flat top and lower on the line of text), known as yogh. The system was altered by Fr. scribes, who brought over the continental use of -g- and from the early 1200s used -y- and sometimes -gh- to replace 3. There's a good, in-depth discussion of yogh here. As short for YMCA, YWCA, YMHA first recorded 1915.

perfective prefix, in y-clept, etc.; a deliberate archaism, introduced by Spenser and his imitators, representing an authentic M.E. prefix, from O.E. ge-, originally meaning "with, together" but later a completive or perfective element, from P.Gmc. *ga-. It is still living in Ger. and Du. ge-, and survives,

disguised, in some Eng. words (e.g. alike, aware).

-y

suffix in pet proper names (e.g. Johnny, Kitty), first recorded in Scottish, c.1400; became frequent in Eng. 15c.-16c. Extension to surnames seems to date from c.1940. Use with common nouns seems to have begun in Scot. with laddie (1546) and become

popular in Eng. due to Burns' poems, but the same formation appears to be represented much earlier in baby and puppy.

-y

noun suffix, in army, city, country, etc., from O.Fr. -e, L. -atus, -atum, pp. suffix of verbs of the first conjugation. In victory, history, etc. it represents L. -ia, Gk. -ia.

-y

adj. suffix, "full of or characterized by," from O.E. -ig, from P.Gmc. *-iga (cf. Ger. -ig), cognate with Gk. -ikos, L. -icus.

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

Y
The symbol for the element yttrium.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

Y
The symbol for yttrium.

yttrium

(ĭt'rē-əm) Pronunciation Key
Symbol Y
A silvery metallic element found in the same ores as elements of the lanthanide series. Yttrium is used to strengthen magnesium and aluminum alloys, to provide the red color in color televisions, and as a component of various optical and electronic devices. Atomic number 39; atomic weight 88.906; melting point 1,522°C; boiling point 3,338°C; specific gravity 4.45 (25°C); valence 3. See Periodic Table.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

Y definition

1. General purpose language syntactically like RATFOR, semantically like C. Lacks structures and pointers. Used as a source language for Jack W. Davidson and Christopher W. Fraser's peephole optimiser which inspired GCC RTL and other optimisation ideas.
(ftp://ftp.cs.princeton.edu/pub/y+po.tar.Z). It is a copy of the original distribution from the University of Arizona during the early 80's, totally unsupported.
["The Y Programming Language", D.R. Hanson, SIGPLAN Notices 16(2):59-68 (Feb 1981)].
[Jack W. Davidson and Christopher W. Fraser, "The Design and Application of a Retargetable Peephole Optimiser", TOPLAS, Apr. 1980].
[Jack W. Davidson, "Simplifying Code Through Peephole Optimisation" Technical Report TR81-19, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 1981].
[Jack W. Davidson and Christopher W. Fraser, "Register Allocation and Exhaustive Peephole Optimisation" Software-Practice and Experience, Sep. 1984].
2. See fixed point combinator.

American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

y
yen