yo
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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2 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "yo", 2-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "yo" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "yo" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
yo is anEnglishintj. It means: A greeting similar to hi. Pronounced /jəʊ/. It ranks #3,346 in English word frequency. Often confused with yu and yr.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | yo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Intj |
| IPA | /jəʊ/ |
| Letters | 2 |
| Frequency rank | #3,346 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for yo is 2 letters long, classified as anintj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /jəʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,346 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for yo in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "yu", "yr", "yt", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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 ġē… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is yo, spelled Y-O, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A greeting similar to hi.
- 2An interjection similar to hey.
- 3An expression of surprise or excitement.
- 4Present! Here!
- 5Emphatic conclusion to a statement.
Etymology
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. Modern popularity apparently dates from the early 20th century in Philadelphia, PA; amongst the Italian Community there, where io, with (as opposed to in standard Italian language) the stress on the ultima, was a common salutatory response among residents, particularly young males. This usage was apparently reinforced by the aforesaid English terms. It has been claimed to have been a common response at roll calls during World War 2 (see definition 4), and then most intensely attested in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; it thence spread globally from American dominance of pop culture post-WWII.
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #3,346 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter Y in our English index: