yay

See also Yay

English

Alternative forms

• yea

Etymology 1

Alteration of yea (“yes; even, truly, verily”). More at yea.

Pronunciation

• enPR: yā, IPA: /jeɪ/, X-SAMPA: /yeI/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophone: yea

Interjection

yay

1. (colloquial) Alternative form of yea (yes).
2. (colloquial) An expression of happiness.

   Yay! I have finally finished my work!

Synonyms

• (an expression of happiness): hooray

Derived terms

• yayness

Translations

an expression of happiness

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 好哇 (cmn) (hǎowā), 萬歲 (cmn), 万岁 (cmn) (wànsuì)

• Czech: hurá (cs)
• Dutch: joepie (nl)
• Finnish: jippii (fi), jess (fi), hurraa (fi)
• French: hourra (fr)
• German: juhu (de), hurra (de)
• Hungarian: juhé (hu)
• Icelandic: jei (is), vei (is)

• Japanese: やったー (ja) (yattā), やった (ja) (yatta), 万歳 (ja) (ばんざい, banzai), イェーイ (ja) (ie-i)
• Korean: 만세 (ko) (manse) (萬歲 (ko))
• Portuguese: eba (pt), viva (pt), oba (pt), iúpi (pt)
• Russian: ура (ru) (urá)
• Spanish: yupi (es), órale (es), hurra (es)
• Swedish: jippi (sv), hurra (sv), tjoho (sv)
• Vietnamese: hoan hô (vi), vạn tuế (vi) (萬歲 (vi))

Adverb

yay (not comparable)

1. (chiefly US) so, this (accompanied by a hand gesture)

   The pony was yay high.

Alternative forms

• yea

See also

• nay

Etymology 2

From the sound it represents, by analogy with the other palatal letters chay and jay.

Noun

yay (plural yays)

1. The name of the letter for the y sound in Pitman shorthand.

Related terms

• wye, the name of the Latin letter for this sound

Etymology 3

From Spanish llello.

Noun

yay (uncountable)

1. (US, slang) Cocaine.
   • 2006, "They Shootin'", Vibe, December 2006:

     In Billy Corben's engrossing new documentary, Cocaine Cowboys (Magnolia Pictures), self-described "assassin" Jorge "Rivi" Ayala (among others) give up the goods on Miami's explosive early '80s yay trade.

   • 2009, Tyrone Pierson, Murder in the Moonlight, AuthorHouse (2009), ISBN 9781438965154, page 339:

     I'm in charge of a whole city block, and I always wear gloves when I touch the yay, cuz traces of cocaine show up on my u. a., when I touch it with my bare hands.

   • 2012, Azealia Banks, "Liquorice", 1991:

     I don't do yay, but if you want to, fine

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:cocaine.

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Azeri

Noun

yay

1. summer

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Turkish

Etymology

From Old Turkic ya, from Proto-Turkic *jā(j) (“bow”).

Noun

yay

1. bow (weapon)