yean
/jiːn/obsolete
yean is spelled Y-E-A-N: 4 letters. It appears about once in every 14 million words in written English, the 114,361st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, yean means “To give birth to” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in yean?
| Letters | 4: Y-E-A-N |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 14 million words; the 114,361st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is yean?
Yean appears about once in every 14 million words in written English, the 114,361st 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 yean?
- /jiːn/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-yean.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with yean
Sounds like: yeen (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with yean?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as yean.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ayen.
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 yean
- yeans present, singular, he/she/it
- yeaning participle, present
- yeaned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does yean mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
archaicTo give birth to.
Weak as the lamb the hour that it is yeaned;
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does yean come from?
From Middle English *yenen, ȝenen, eanen, from Old English *ġeēanian, ēanian (“to yean, bring forth young (usually lambs), bring forth as a ewe”) (for the prefixed form, compare Old English ġeēan, ġeēane (“yeaning”, adjective)), from Proto-West Germanic *gaaunōn, *aunōn (“to yean, lamb”), from *aunōną (“to yean, lamb”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʷnós (“lamb”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).