yolk
/joʊk/noun, verb
yolk is spelled Y-O-L-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “yoke vs yolk” about 720 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, yolk means “The yellow, spherical part of an egg that is surrounded by the white albumen, and serves as nutriment for the growing young” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of yolk is yolks.
How many letters and syllables are in yolk?
| Letters | 4: Y-O-L-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,462nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| 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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is yolk?
Yolk appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,462nd 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 yolk?
- UK /jəʊk/
- US /joʊk/
- US /joʊlk/
Yolk 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-us-yolk.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with yolk
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: yoke (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with yolk?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as yolk from its last stressed vowel (/oʊk/):
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 yolk
- yolks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- yolking participle, present
- yolked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does yolk mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The yellow, spherical part of an egg that is surrounded by the white albumen, and serves as nutriment for the growing young.
To make meringue, you have to separate the white from the yolk.
- 2
The grease in a sheep's fleece; lanolin.
verb
- 1
To produce yolk.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Yolk in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense yellow of egg:
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 yolk come from?
From Middle English yolke, yelke, ȝolke, ȝelke, from Old English ġeolca, ġeoloca, ġioleca (“the yellow part, yolk”), derived from Old English ġeolu (“yellow”) + -ca (diminutive suffix).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).