Yankee
noun/ˈjæŋki/
/ˈjæŋki/
- (North American English) a person who comes from or lives in any of the northern states of the US, especially New England
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- a soldier who fought for the Union (= the northern states) in the American Civil War
- (also Yank)(British English, informal, usually offensive) an offensive word for a person from the US; an American
Word Originmid 18th cent.: origin uncertain; recorded in the late 17th cent. as a nickname; perhaps from Dutch Janke, diminutive of Jan ‘John’.
Check pronunciation:
Yankee