# Yankee

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈjæŋ.ki/ · frequency rank #13,081

## Definitions
1. A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States:
2. A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States:
3. A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States:
4. A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States:
5. Any individual associated with the Union; that is, the United States federal government, during the American Civil War.
6. A player for the New York Yankees.
7. A large triangular headsail used in light or moderate winds and set on the fore topmast stay. Unlike a genoa it does not fill the whole fore triangle, but is set in combination with the working staysail.
8. A wager on four selections, consisting of 11 separate bets: six doubles, four trebles and a fourfold accumulator.

## Etymology
First attested in 1765, when it was described as "a name of derision … given by the Southern people on the Continent to those of New England". Various suggestions have been made as to its origin: that it derives from a Cherokee word meaning "slave" or "coward" and was applied to the New Englanders by the Virginians because the former refused to aid the latter in a war against the Cherokees; that it derives from Yengees, an Indian corruption of English; and that it derives from Janke, a pet form of the common Dutch forename Jan. The OED regards the last of these as "perhaps the most plausible".

## Easily confused with
- **yank** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/yank-vs-yankee)
- **yanked** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/yanked-vs-yankee)

## Common misspellings (8)
`aynkee`, `yaknee`, `yaneke`, `yanke`, `yankkee`, `yannkee`, `ynakee`, `yyankee`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/yankee