yes

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[edit] English

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[edit] Etymology

Middle English yes, yis from Old English ġēse, ġȳse, ġīse "yes, of course, so be it", equivalent to ġēa (“yes", "so”) + sī(e) (“be it”). Compare yea.

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Adverb

yes (not comparable)

  1. A word used to show agreement or acceptance.
    Yes, you are correct.
    Yes, you may go play outside now.
    Yes, sir, we have your package right here.
  2. A word used to indicate disagreement or dissent in reply to a negative statement.
    It was not my fault we lost the race.
    Oh, yes, it was!

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Antonyms

  • Standard form: no
  • Nautical, military, telecommunications: negative
  • Dialect or archaic forms: nay
  • Colloquial or slang forms: ixnay, nah, naw, nope

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Translations

word used to indicate agreement or acceptance
word used to indicate disagreement or dissent in reply to a negative statement
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
  • Malagasy: eny
  • Maléku Jaíka: áo
  • Maori: ae, āe
  • Sardinian: eja
  • Serbo-Croatian: да (sr) (da)
  • Sinhalese: ඔවු (si) (owu)
  • Swahili: ndiyo, sawa
  • Tagalog: oo
  • Tausug: huun
  • Tok Pisin: yes, yesa
  • Tupinambá: pá (said by men); e'ẽ (said by men and women)
  • Tz'utujil: ken
  • Vietnamese:
    • Generically: vâng (North), dạ (South), ờ (informal, akin to 'yeah)
    • có in response to a question containing có
    • phải in response to a question containing phải
    • rồi in response to a question containing chưa
  • Welsh: ie (ee-ya; commonly used in English, shown as yeah)

[edit] Usage notes

  • In Old and Middle English, yes was a more forceful affirmative than yea.
  • An example of yes used to disagree with a statement: the questions "You don’t want it, do you?" and "Don’t you want it?" are answered by "yes" if the respondent does want the item, and no if he or she does not. Many languages use a specific word for this purpose; see translation table above.


[edit] Interjection

yes!

  1. Used to express pleasure, joy, or great excitement.

[edit] Antonyms

[edit] Translations

expression of pleasure, joy or great excitement

[edit] Noun

yes (plural yeses)

  1. An affirmative expression; an answer that shows agreement or acceptance.
    Was that a yes?
  2. A vote of support or in favor/favour of something.
    The workers voted on whether to strike, and there were thirty "yeses" and one "no".

[edit] Synonyms

  • (answer that shows agreement or acceptance): aye, yea
  • (vote in support): aye, yea

[edit] Antonyms

  • (answer that shows agreement or acceptance): no, nay
  • (vote in support): nay

[edit] Translations

answer that shows agreement or acceptance
vote of support

[edit] Verb

yes (third-person singular simple present yeses, present participle yessing, simple past and past participle yessed)

  1. (colloquial, transitive) To agree with, to affirm.
    Did he yes the veto?
  2. (slang) To attempt to flatter someone by habitually agreeing.

[edit] Translations

to affirm
attempt to flatter by agreeing

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Dutch

[edit] Etymology

From English yes.

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Interjection

yes

  1. (colloquial) yes!

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Ido

[edit] Adverb

yes

  1. yes

[edit] Antonyms

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