yo-yo
/ˈjəʊ.jəʊ/
"yo-yo" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“yo-yo” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A toy consisting of a spheroidal or cylindrical spindle having a circular groove in which string is wound; it is used by holding the string in the fingers and reeling the spindle up and down by mov...
Corpus desk
Index EN-yo-yo · yo-yo · English
yo-yo · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-4 4 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | yo-yo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈjəʊ.jəʊ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “yo-yo” in English
Rare enough to double-check
yo-yo is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈjəʊ.jəʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for yo-yo in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Genericized trademark. Most likely from Ilocano yóyo, or another Philippine cognate. The correct English form is yo-yo, spelled Y-O---Y-O.
Definition
- 1A toy consisting of a spheroidal or cylindrical spindle having a circular groove in which string is wound; it is used by holding the string in the fingers and reeling the spindle up and down by movements of the wrist.
- 2A volatile market that moves up and down.
- 3Someone who vacillates.
- 4A dogfighting maneuver involving the attacker temporarily exchanging altitude for airspeed, or vice versa, in order to rapidly catch up with the defender or to prevent an overshoot.
- 5A cloth rosette formed by gathering the outside edge of a circle of fabric in toward the centre using a running stitch.
- 6A foolish, annoying or incompetent person.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how yo-yo appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I bought a yo-yo from the toy store yesterday.
It is hard to watch the management for very long and not conclude that the place is run by a bunch of yo-yos.
Etymology
Genericized trademark. Most likely from Ilocano yóyo, or another Philippine cognate.
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.