y definition | Dictionary.com

Y, y

[wahy]

–noun, plural Y's or Ys, y's or ys.

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

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

3.	something having the shape of a Y.

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

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

Y

[wahy]

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

Y

yen ¹ (def. 1).

Y

Symbol.

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

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

3.	(sometimes lowercase) Electricity. admittance.

4.	Chemistry. yttrium.

5.	Biochemistry. tyrosine.

y

Symbol, Mathematics.

1.	an unknown quantity.

2.	(in Cartesian coordinates) the y-axis.

y-

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

Also, i-.

Origin:
ME y-, i- (reduced var. a-), OE ge-, prefix with perfective, intensifying, or collective force; c. OFris, OS ge-, gi-, Goth ga-, G ge-; cf. perh. L com- com-

-y

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, -ey ¹ .

Origin:
OE -ig; c. G -ig; cf. perh. L -icus, Gk -ikos

-y

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 ME (Scots), orig. in names; of uncert. orig.; baby and puppy, now felt as having this suffix, may be of different derivation

-y

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

Origin:
repr. L -ia, -ium; Gk -ia, -eia, -ion; F -ie; G -ie

y.

1.	yard; yards.

2.	year; years.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To y

ad·mit·tance (ād-mĭt'ns)

The act of admitting or entering.
1. Permission to enter.
2. Right of entry. See Usage Note at admission.
Symbol Y Electricity The reciprocal of impedance.

hy·per·charge (hī'pər-chärj')

n. Symbol Y
A quantum number equal to twice the average electric charge of a particle multiplet or, equivalently, to the sum of the strangeness and the baryon number.

or·di·nate (ôr'dn-ĭt, -āt')

adj. Arranged in regular rows, as the spots on the wings of an insect.
n. Symbol y The plane Cartesian coordinate representing the distance from a specified point to the x-axis, measured parallel to the y-axis.

[Middle English, properly ordered, from Latin ōrdinātus, past participle of ōrdināre, to set in order, from ōrdō, ōrdin-, order; see ar- in Indo-European roots.]

y¹ or Y (wī)

n. pl. y's or Y's also ys or Ys

The 25th letter of the modern English alphabet.
Any of the speech sounds represented by the letter y.
The 25th in a series.
Something shaped like the letter Y.

y²
The symbol for ordinate.

Y¹ (wī)

The Young Men's Christian Association, The Young Women's Christian Association, or one of their facilities. Used with the.
The Young Men's Hebrew Association, The Young Women's Hebrew Association, or one of their facilities. Used with the.

Y²

The symbol for the element yttrium.
The symbol for admittance.
The symbol for hypercharge.

Y³
abbr. year

yt·tri·um (ĭt'rē-əm)

n. Symbol Y
A silvery metallic element, not a rare earth but occurring in nearly all rare-earth minerals, used in various metallurgical applications, notably to increase the strength of magnesium and aluminum alloys. 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 Table at element.

[From yttria.]
yt'tric (ĭt'rĭk) adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Y\ (w[imac]). Y, the twenty-fifth letter of the English alphabet, at the beginning of a word or syllable, except when a prefix (see Y-), is usually a fricative vocal consonant; as a prefix, and usually in the middle or at the end of a syllable, it is a vowel. See Guide to Pronunciation, [sect][sect] 145, 178-9, 272.

Note: It derives its form from the Latin Y, which is from the Greek [Upsilon], originally the same letter as V. Etymologically, it is most nearly related to u, i, o, and j. g; as in full, fill, AS. fyllan; E. crypt, grotto; young, juvenile; day, AS. d[ae]g. See U, I, and J, G.

Note: Y has been called the Pythagorean letter, because the Greek letter [Upsilon] was taken represent the sacred triad, formed by the duad proceeding from the monad; and also because it represents the dividing of the paths of vice and virtue in the development of human life.

Y\ (w[imac]), n.; pl. Y's (w[imac]z) or Ys. Something shaped like the letter Y; a forked piece resembling in form the letter Y. Specifically: (a) One of the forked holders for supporting the telescope of a leveling instrument, or the axis of a theodolite; a wye. (b) A forked or bifurcated pipe fitting. (c) (Railroads) A portion of track consisting of two diverging tracks connected by a cross track.

Y level (Surv.), an instrument for measuring differences of level by means of a telescope resting in Y's.

Y moth (Zo["o]l.), a handsome European noctuid moth Plusia gamma) which has a bright, silvery mark, shaped like the letter Y, on each of the fore wings. Its larva, which is green with five dorsal white species, feeds on the cabbage, turnip, bean, etc. Called also gamma moth, and silver Y.

Y\ ([imac]), pron. I. [Obs.] --King Horn. Wyclif.

Language Translation for : y

Spanish: y (son las diez y cuarto),

German: nach,

Japanese: ～過ぎ

More Translations »

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.

Y

A Nasdaq stock symbol specifying that a particular stock is an American Depositary Receipt (ADR).

Investopedia Commentary

Nasdaq-listed securities have four or five characters. If a fifth letter appears, it identifies the issue as other than a single issue of common stock or capital stock.

See also: ADR, Nasdaq, Stock Symbol

Also spelled: Y

Main Entry: Y
Function: symbol
yttrium

Y
The symbol for the element yttrium.

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.

Y
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.

y
yen

admittance
hypercharge
year
YMCA
YMHA
YWCA
YWHA
young
yttrium

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