yo-yo

See also: yoyo, Yoyo, YOYO, and yoyó

English

Photograph of a national yo-yo champion in Chico, California

Etymology

Formerly a trademark. Most likely from Ilocano yóyo, or another Philippine cognate. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈjəʊ.jəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈjoʊ.joʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: (UK) -əʊjəʊ, (US) -oʊjoʊ

Noun

yo-yo (plural yo-yos)

1. 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 movements of the wrist.

   Coordinate terms: diabolo, whirligig

   I bought a yo-yo from the toy store yesterday.

2. (finance) A volatile market that moves up and down.
3. (informal) Someone who vacillates.
4. (aviation, military) A 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.
5. (sewing) A cloth rosette formed by gathering the outside edge of a circle of fabric in toward the centre using a running stitch.
6. (informal) A foolish, annoying or incompetent person.

   It is hard to watch the management for very long and not conclude that the place is run by a bunch of yo-yos.

   • 1985, Sting & Mark Knopfler (lyrics and music), “Money for Nothing”, in Brothers in Arms, performed by Dire Straits:

     Now look at them yo-yos, that's the way you do it

   • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:

     Henry glanced past him at the few other customers currently in attendance. "Hey! Any of you yo-yos headed up Castle Hill?"

Hyponyms

(dogfight maneuver):

• high yo-yo
• low yo-yo

Derived terms

• Chinese yo-yo
• high yo-yo
• low yo-yo
• yo-yo despin
• yo-yo dieting
• yo-yoer
• yo-yo mode
• yo-yo reflux
• yo-yo weight

 

Descendants

• → Italian: yo-yo

Translations

toy

• Afrikaans: jojo
• Arabic: يُويُو (ar) m (yūyū)
• Catalan: io-io (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 搖搖／摇摇 (jiu⁴ jiu^4-2)

  Mandarin: 溜溜球 (zh) (liūliūqiú)

• Czech: jojo (cs) n
• Dhivehi: ޔޯޔޯ (yōyō)
• Dutch: jojo (nl) m
• Finnish: jojo (fi)
• French: yo-yo (fr) m
• German: Jo-Jo (de) n, Yo-Yo (de) n
• Greek: γιογιό (el) n (giogió)
• Hebrew: יו־יו (yoyo)
• Hindi: योयो m (yoyo), यो-यो m (yo-yo)
• Hungarian: jojó (hu)
• Icelandic: jójó n
• Italian: yo-yo (it) m
• Japanese: ヨーヨー (yōyō)
• Korean: 요요 (ko) (yoyo)
• Malay:

  Rumi: yoyo

• Marathi: योयो m (yoyo)
• Norwegian: jojo m
• Persian: یویو (fa) (yoyo)
• Polish: jojo (pl) n, jo-jo (pl) n
• Portuguese: ioiô (pt) m
• Russian: йо-йо́ (ru) n (jo-jó), йо́-йо (ru) n (jó-jo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јо-јо m

  Roman: jo-jo m

• Slovak: jojo n
• Spanish: yo-yo m, yoyó m
• Swedish: jojo (sv) c
• Thai: โยโย่ (yoh-yôh)
• Turkish: yo-yo (tr)
• Ukrainian: йо-йо́ n (jo-jó), йо́-йо n (jó-jo)
• Urdu: یو یو m (yo-yo)

volatile market

someone who vacillates

Verb

yo-yo (third-person singular simple present yo-yos, present participle yo-yoing, simple past and past participle yo-yoed)

1. (intransitive) To vacillate; to move up and down.
   • 1990, The Economist, volume 316, page 93:

     The yo-yoing stockmarket whizzed back up by around a quarter and then started to fall again.

Further reading

• yo-yo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English yo-yo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /joˈjɔ/^*, /jɔˈjɔ/^*
• Rhymes: -ɔ

Noun

yo-yo m (invariable)

1. (games) yo-yo

Further reading

• yo-yo on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^it
• yo-yo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• yo-yo in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)