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PlainSpell

yawn

UK /jɔːn/verb, noun

yawn is spelled Y-A-W-N: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,420th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, yawn means “To open the mouth widely and take a long, rather deep breath, often because one is tired or bored, and sometimes accompanied by pandiculation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in yawn?

Letters4: Y-A-W-N
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.2 times per million words; the 26,420th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is yawn?

Yawn appears 1.2 times per million words in written English, the 26,420th 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 yawn?

  • UK /jɔːn/
  • British /joːn/
  • /jɔn/

Yawn has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

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

What rhymes with yawn?

7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as yawn from its last stressed vowel (/ɔn/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: wany.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of yawn

  • yawns present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • yawning participle, present
  • yawned participle, past

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

What does yawn mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To open the mouth widely and take a long, rather deep breath, often because one is tired or bored, and sometimes accompanied by pandiculation.

    I could see my students yawning, so I knew the lesson was boring them.

  2. 2

    To say while yawning.

  3. 3

    To present a wide opening; gape.

    The canyon yawns as it has done for millions of years, and we stand looking, dumbstruck.

  4. 4

    obsoleteTo open the mouth, or to gape, through surprise or bewilderment.

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo be eager; to desire to swallow anything; to express desire by yawning.

    to yawn for fat livings

noun

  1. 1

    The action of yawning; opening the mouth widely and taking a long, rather deep breath, often because one is tired or bored.

  2. 2

    colloquialA particularly boring event.

    The slideshow we sat through was such a yawn. I was glad when it finished.

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

Yawn in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbâiller (open the mouth and take a deep breath), béer (to present a wide opening), bâillement (the action of yawning)
Germangähnen (open the mouth and take a deep breath), Gähnen (the action of yawning)
Portuguesebocejar (open the mouth and take a deep breath), bocejo (the action of yawning)
Spanishbostezar (open the mouth and take a deep breath), abrirse (to present a wide opening), bostezo (the action of yawning)

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.

Where does yawn come from?

Partly from Middle English yanen, yonen, yenen (“to yawn”), from Old English ġeonian, ġinian (“to yawn, gape”), from Proto-West Germanic *ginōn, from Proto-Germanic *ginōną (“to yawn”); and partly from Middle English gonen (“to gape, yawn”), from Old English gānian (“to yawn, gape”), from Proto-West Germanic *gainōn, from Proto-Germanic *gainōną (“to yawn, gape”); both from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰi-, *ǵʰeyh₁- (“to yawn, gape”).

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

What to look up after yawn