yes man

/jɛs mæn/

//jɛs mæn// noun

"yes-man" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“yes man” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person who always agrees with their employer or superior.

Corpus desk

Index EN-yes-man · yes man · English

yes man · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "Y" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for yes man
PropertyValue
Headwordyes man
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/jɛs mæn/
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “yes man” in English

yes manranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

yes man is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /jɛs mæn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A person who always agrees with their employer or superior.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for yes man, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct English form is yes man, spelled Y-E-S- -M-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A person who always agrees with their employer or superior.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how yes man appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Crowds of yes men elbowed one another out of the way, hoping to get a chance to kiss the boss's ring.
  2. The function of a Vice-President is the job of a yes-man, as they call it in America.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "yes man"?
"yes man" is spelled Y-E-S- -M-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is /jɛs mæn/.
What does "yes man" mean?
As a noun, "yes man" means: A person who always agrees with their employer or superior.
How do you pronounce "yes man"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "yes man" is /jɛs mæn/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "yes man" come from?
"yes man" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list