Y-Word Vocabulary Definitions
| yahoo. | Crude or brutish person (from Gulliver's Travels). |
| Yahwist. | The author of the earliest sources of the Hexatuech in which God is called Yahweh. |
| yakitori. | Bite-sized marinated chicken on small skewers. |
| yamen. | Office or home of Chinese official (Empire days). |
| yang. | Active masculine principle |
| .yapok. | Aquatic S. A. marsupial aquatic mammal. hind feet, dense fur, long tail. |
| Yaqui. | Now living in Sonora. |
| yard arm. | Either end of a yard of square sail. |
| yard of ale. | Slender horn-shaped glass that is three feet tall and holds three pints. |
| yare. | 1. Responding easily, maneuverable. 2. Bright, lively. 3. Prepared. |
| yarrow. | Flower. |
| yashmak. | Veil worn by Moslem women. |
| yataghan. | Double-curved blade, eared pommel, no handle guard. Turkish. |
| yaupon. | Holly, Medicinal. |
| yawl. | 1. Two-masted fore-and-aft rigged. Like ketch but smaller jigger mast stepped abaft the rudder. 2. A ship's small boat manned by oarsmen. |
| yaws. | An infectious tropical skin disease caused by a spirochete. |
| yeanling. | A lamb or kid. |
| yegg. | A thief. |
| yellow-bark. | Calisaya. |
| yellow-dog contract. | Contract requiring worker to eschew union membership (illegal). |
| yellow flu. | organized student absence to protest busing. |
| yellowhammer. | Woodpecker. |
| yellow jack. | 1. Yellow fever. 2. Yellow flag hoisted to request pratique (ship clearance after quarantine) or to warn of contagion. 3. food fish. |
| yellow-legs. | N. A. wading birds. |
| yellow-shafted flicker. | Yellow-hammer. |
| yellow-tail. | Marine game fish. |
| yellow-throat. | Birds. |
| yenta. | A gossipy woman, esp. one who pries. |
| yerba maté. | The maté. |
| Yerkish. | Geometric language for communicating with primates. |
| yeshivah. | Study of the Talmud. 2. Grammar, high school where Jewish religion and culture is added to the three R's. |
| yé-yé. | French rock. |
| YHWH. | Hebrew Tetragammon representing the name of God. |
| Yiddish | High German with many words borrowed from Hebrew and Slavic. Written in Hebrew characters. Spoken as vernacular in Eastern European Jewish communities and spoken by emigrees around the world. |
| ylang-ylang. | Asian perfume tree. |
| yogh. | The Middle English letter representing velar or partial fricative sound of w between vowels. |
| yohimbine. | Aphrodisiac, local anesthetic, and mydriatic (Kickapoo Joy Juice?). |
| yoicks. | Hunting cry to urge the hounds after the fox. |
| yokozuna. | A champion sumo wrestler. |
| yonim | Vulva in Indian and Tibetan religion. |
| Yorkshire pudding. | Milk, flour, eggs, cooked in drippings of roast beef. |
| younker. | 1. A young man. 2. A child. |
| Yquem. | A sauterne wine. |
| yuan. | Chinese money. |
| Yuga. | Hindu: One of the four ages constituting the cycle of history. |
| yulan. | A white-flowering tree. |