yea

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ye, ȝea, ya, ȝa, from Old English ġēa, iā (“yea, yes”), from Proto-Germanic *ja (“yes, thus, so”), from Proto-Indo-European *yē (“already”). Cognate with Scots yea, ya (“yes, yea, indeed, so”), Saterland Frisian ja, jee (“yes”), West Frisian ja (“yes”), Dutch ja (“yes”), German ja (“yes, yea”), Swedish ja, jo (“yes, well, indeed”), Icelandic já (“yes”), Latin iam (“now, already”), Italian già (“now, already”), Spanish ya (“now, already”), Polish już (“already”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: yā, IPA^(key): /jeɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophone: yay

Adverb

yea (not comparable)

1. (dated) Yes, indeed.
   • 1597-1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum

     Yea, and the prophet of the heav'nly lyre, / Great Solomon sings in the English quire […]

2. Thus, so (now often accompanied by a hand gesture).

   The pony was yea high.

Synonyms

• (yes): aye, yep, yes, yup, yeah, yigh (when contradicting)

Antonyms

• nay
• no

Conjunction

yea

1. (archaic) Or even, or more like, nay. Introduces a stronger and more appropriate expression than the preceding one.
   • 1604, Jeremy Corderoy, A Short Dialogve, wherein is Proved, that No Man can be Saved without Good VVorkes, 2nd edition, Oxford: Printed by Ioseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crowne, by Simon Waterson, OCLC 55185654, page 40:

     [N]ow ſuch a liue vngodly, vvithout a care of doing the wil of the Lord (though they profeſſe him in their mouths, yea though they beleeue and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea haue knowledge of the Scripturs) yet if they liue vngodly, they deny God, and therefore ſhal be denied, […]

     • (with modern spelling) [N]ow such a life ungodly, without a care of doing the will of the Lord (though they profess him in their mouths, yea though they believe and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea have knowledge of the Scriptures) yet if they live ungodly, they deny God, and therefore shall be denied
   • c. 1633, The Flea, by John Donne

     O stay, three lives in one flea spare,

     Where we almost, yea, more than married are.

Interjection

yea

1. (in some dialects of American English, including Southern, Western, and African American Vernacular) Yeah, right, yes.

Noun

yea (plural yeas)

1. An affirmative vote, usually but not always spoken
   • 2009, January 6, Still Broken After All These Years‎^[1]:

     Recently senators could fax in their yeas or nays to the committee chairman.

   Antonym: nay

Etymology 2

From yeah.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɛ(ə)/, /ˈjæ.ə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (US, interjection)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə

Interjection

yea

1. (nonstandard, proscribed) Alternative spelling of yeah

Etymology 3

See yay.

Pronunciation

• enPR: yā, IPA^(key): /jeɪ/

Interjection

yea

1. Misspelling of yay.

Anagrams

• Aye, aye, yae