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PlainSpell

y

/ˈwaɪ/letter, noun, adverb, particle

y is spelled Y: one letter and one syllable. It appears 107 times per million words in written English, the 996th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a letter, y means “The twenty-fifth letter of the English alphabet, called wy or wye and written in the Latin script” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in y?

Letters1: Y
Syllables1
In writing107 times per million words; the 996th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is y?

Y appears 107 times per million words in written English, the 996th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce y?

  • /ˈwaɪ/
  • /j/
  • /aɪ/

Y has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-y.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl--y.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Y.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with y

Sounds like: wye (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: youth.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of y

  • ys plural
  • y's plural
  • i-
  • a-

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does y mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

letter

  1. 1

    The twenty-fifth letter of the English alphabet, called wy or wye and written in the Latin script.

letter

as Y
  1. 1

    The twenty-fifth letter of the English alphabet, called wye and written in the Latin script.

  2. 2

    Used for the Greek letter Υ (Y, “upsilon”).

noun

as Y
  1. 1

    A figure or mark in the shape of the letter Y.

  2. 2

    A Y-shaped object, such as a railroad fork or a support for a telescope; a wye, a bifurcation.

  3. 3

    A moth of the genus Plusia, having markings resembling the letter Y.

  4. 4

    Abbreviation of year (In some contexts as YY or YYYY to indicate only the last 2-digits or all 4-digits.)

  5. 5

    CanadaUSinformalA particular facility run by the YMCA/YWCA.

interjection

as Y
  1. 1

    Abbreviation of yes.

article

as yͤ
  1. 1

    Alternative form of ye (“the”).

conjunction

as yͭ
  1. 1

    Alternative form of yt (“that”).

    From yͤ hagg & hungry Goblin, yͭ into raggs would rend yee, & yͤ spirit yͭ stand’s by yͤ naked man,

symbol

as ȳ
  1. 1

    An orthographic ⟨y⟩ with a diacritic that marks it as being the PRICE vowel, as in the word "lyre".

symbol

as y̆
  1. 1

    An orthographic ⟨y⟩ with a diacritic that marks it as being the KIT vowel, as in the word "typical".

noun

  1. 1

    Abbreviation of year.

  2. 2

    UKAbbreviation of youth, usually followed by an age appropriate for the content so marked.

    Y7

adverb

  1. 1

    slangAbbreviation of why.

particle

  1. 1

    Abbreviation of yes.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Y in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
German-ig (having the quality of), -chen, -lein, -i, -erl (forming diminutive nouns), -heit (forming abstract nouns)
Portuguese-oso (having the quality of), -inho (forming diminutive nouns), -ia, -idade (forming abstract nouns), -ento (inclined to)
Spanish-iento, -oso, -iego (having the quality of), -ito, -ita (forming diminutive nouns), -ento (inclined to)
French-et, -ette, -in, -ine (forming diminutive nouns), -é (forming abstract nouns), -ie (used in the name of some locations ending in…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

What to look up after y