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PlainSpell

yo

/joʊ/interjection, determiner, pronoun, noun, number, verb

yo is spelled Y-O: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 28 times per million words in written English, the 3,288th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an interjection, yo means “A greeting similar to hi” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in yo?

Letters2: Y-O
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing28 times per million words; the 3,288th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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 yo?

Yo appears 28 times per million words in written English, the 3,288th 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 yo?

  • UK /jəʊ/
  • US /joʊ/

As a noun (“The name of the letter Ё/ё in Cyrillic alphabets”): /jɒ/, /jəʊ/, /joʊ/.

Yo 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-au-yo.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with yo

Also written: yoh, yue.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with yo?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as yo from its last stressed vowel (/oʊ/):

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 yo

  • yoh
  • yo'
  • yos plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • yoing participle, present
  • yoed participle, past

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

What does yo mean?

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

interjection

  1. 1

    slangA greeting similar to hi.

    Yo Paulie! How's it going?

  2. 2

    slangAn interjection similar to hey.

    Yo, check this out!

  3. 3

    slangAn expression of surprise or excitement.

    Yo, that's crazy, but I don't remember asking.

  4. 4

    slangPresent! Here!

    Sergeant: Smith? Private Smith: Yo!

  5. 5

    Emphatic conclusion to a statement.

    JESSE: That is messed up, yo.

pronoun

  1. 1

    colloquialGeneric third-person singular pronoun (primarily used in place of he and she).

    Is dat yo mama? What's yo doin' in here??

noun

  1. 1

    The name of the letter Ё/ё in Cyrillic alphabets.

  2. 2

    Abbreviation of year(s) old.

  3. 3

    Initialism of yarn over.

  4. 4

    Alternative form of YO

  5. 5

    Abbreviation of yarnover.

phrase

as YO
  1. 1

    Abbreviation of years old.

noun

as YO
  1. 1

    Abbreviation of yarnover.

  2. 2

    A technique in which the yarn is passed over the right-hand needle. In general, the new loop is knitted on the next row, either by itself (producing a hole) or together with an adjacent stitch.

verb

as YO
  1. 1

    Abbreviation of yarnover.

  2. 2

    To make a yarnover.

determiner

  1. 1

    colloquialPronunciation spelling of your.

    Yo sandwich has only bacon in it. Want some ketchup on that?

number

  1. 1

    Clipping of yoleven.

verb

  1. 1

    Alternative form of YO

  2. 2

    Abbreviation of yarnover.

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

Yo in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Portugueseoi (greeting similar to hi), ei (interjection similar to hey), eba, oba (expression of surprise or excitement)

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 yo come from?

As a greeting first attested in 1859, attested first as a cry of sailors and huntsmen (first attested in the 1400s; compare e.g. huzzah, giddyup). Originally from Middle English yo, io, ȝo, yeo, yaw, variant forms of ya, ye (“yes, yea”), from Old English ġēa (“yes, yea”), from Proto-Germanic *ja (“yes, thus, so”); or perhaps from Old English ēow (“Wo!, Alas!”, interjection). Compare Danish, Swedish, German, Norwegian jo (“yes (flexible meaning)”), Dutch jow (“hi, hey”) and Dutch jo (“hi, hey”). More at yea, ow, ew.

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

What to look up after yo