Etymograph

English

yay

Yay comes from English yea ‘yes’.

  1. English1500–presentyea1‘yes’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 2018yay1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English yay
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2018, CGP Grey: “See, in the 1800s, the island was yay big,…”.

Lineage

  1. English1500–presentyeaWiktionary, English yay‘yes’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 2018yayWiktionary, English yay. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2018, CGP Grey: “See, in the 1800s, the island was yay big,…”

Every English word from English yea

Another origin of yay

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*megʰ-‘to be able’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(me)mógʰe‘to have power, to be able to’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*maganą‘to be able, may’uncertain
  4. Frankishc. 250–700*maganuncertain
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*magāreuncertain
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400esmaier‘to perturb’uncertain
  7. Spanishc. 1500–presentdesmayar‘to cause a person to faint’uncertain
  8. Spanishc. 1500–presentdesmayo‘faint, swoon’uncertain
  9. Spanishc. 1500–presentyeyo‘weak, fainting’uncertain
  10. Spanishc. 1500–presentllello‘coke’
  11. Englishtodayyay

Today it means

intj An expression of happiness.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “yay”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / English yea / yay

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