a late-developing letter in English. Called ipsilon in German, upsilon in Greek, the English pronunciation of the name, "wy" (spelled out as wye by 1857) is of obscure origin.

The sound at the beginning of yard, yes, yield, etc. is from Old English words with initial g- as in got and y- as in yet, which were considered the same sound and often transcribed as Ȝ, known as yogh. The system was altered by French scribes, who brought over the continental use of -g- and from the early 1200s used -y- and sometimes -gh- to replace Ȝ.

The French also tended to substitute -y- for -i-, especially before -u-, -n-, or -m-, or at the end of words, to avoid confusion in reading (see U), which might also partly explain this tendency in later Middle English.

In reference to anything of the shape of a letter Y, by 1510s. As short for YMCA, and similar organization names, by 1915. YA for young adult as a publishing market is by 1974. Y-chromosome is by 1909, based on x-chromosome.

perfective prefix, a deliberate archaism reintroduced by Spenser and his imitators (yclept, yclad, etc.), representing an authentic Middle English prefix y-, earlier i-, from Old English ge-, originally meaning "with, together" but later a completive or perfective element.

This is from Proto-Germanic *ga- "together, with" (also a collective and intensive prefix), from PIE *kom "beside, near, by, with" (cognate with Sanskrit ja-, Latin com-, cum-; see com-). It is still living in German and Dutch ge-, and survives, disguised, in some English words (alike, aware, handiwork).

New coinages in it after c. 1300 mostly are past-participle adjectives; among hundreds in Middle English are yfallen, yhacked ("completely hacked," perhaps useful again 21c.), yknow, ymarried, ywrought.

diminutive suffix used in forming in pet proper names (Christy, Sandy, Jemmy), attested by c. 1400 in Scottish (as -ie). Perhaps it is a merging of the common adjective ending -y (2) with old fem. suffixes in -ie. It might have been reinforced by Dutch -je in similar use.

According to OED (1989) it became frequent in English 15c.-16c.

The use with common nouns, childish names of animals (Jenny wren), etc., also seems to have begun in Scottish (laddie is by 1540s) and become popular in English from late 18c. via Burns (timrous beastie). But the formation perhaps appears earlier in baby and puppy, and compare hobby in hobby-horse. Granny, dearie, and sweetie all are 17c. and early 18c.

In general use with names of girls (Kitty, Jenny), where it coincides with names such as Mary, Lucy, Lily, where it is not a diminutive. The extension to surnames seems to be from c. 1940.

very common adjective suffix, "full of, covered with, or characterized by" the thing expressed by the noun, Middle English -i, from Old English -ig, from Proto-Germanic *-iga-, from PIE -(i)ko-, adjectival suffix, cognate with elements in Greek -ikos, Latin -icus (see -ic). Germanic cognates include Dutch, Danish, German -ig, Gothic -egs.

It was used from 13c. with verbs (drowsy, clingy), and by 15c. with other adjectives (crispy). Chiefly with monosyllables; with more than two the effect tends to become comedic.

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Variant forms in -y for short, common adjectives (vasty, hugy) helped poets after the loss of grammatically empty but metrically useful -e in late Middle English. Verse-writers adapted to -y forms, often artfully, as in Sackville's "The wide waste places, and the hugy plain." (and the huge plain would have been a metrical balk).

After Coleridge's criticism of it as archaic artifice, poets gave up stilly (Moore probably was last to make it work, with "Oft in the Stilly Night"), paly (which Keats and Coleridge himself had used) and the rest.

Jespersen ("Modern English Grammar," 1954) also lists bleaky (Dryden), bluey, greeny, and other color words, lanky, plumpy, stouty, and the slang rummy. Vasty survives, he writes, only in imitation of Shakespeare; cooly and moisty (Chaucer, hence Spenser) he regards as fully obsolete. But in a few cases he notes (haughty, dusky) they seem to have supplanted shorter forms.

noun suffix, in army, country, etc., Middle English -ie, from Anglo-French -ee, Old French -e, from Latin -atus, -atum, past participle suffix of certain verbs, which in French came to be used to indicate "employment, office, dignity" (as in duché, clergié).

a noun suffix in words from Latin and Greek indicating state, condition, or quality (jealousy, sympathy); also activity or the result of it (victory, history); via Anglo-French and Old French -é, from Latin -ia, Greek -ia, from PIE *-a-, suffix forming abstract or collective nouns.

It is etymologically identical to -ia and the second element in -cy, -ery, -logy, etc. Many of the words were abstract in sense before concrete meanings developed (e.g. embroidery).

The suffix also is sometimes used in modern words of classical formation (inquiry), and by analogy to make alternative forms (innocence/innocency) without signification but useful metrically for an extra syllable (like Spenser's y-).

1550s, yeaghe "a light, fast-sailing ship," originally a vessel of state for important personages, later used by the wealthy for pleasure trips or racing, from Norwegian jaght or early Dutch jaght, both from Middle Low German jacht, a shortened form of jachtschip "fast pirate ship." This is literally "ship for chasing," from jacht "chase," from jagen "to chase, hunt," from Old High German jagon, from Proto-Germanic *yago-, which is reconstructed (Watkins) to be from PIE root *yek- (2) "to hunt" (source also of Hittite ekt- "hunting net").

As a verb by 1826. Yacht-club, "union of yacht-owners," usually headed by a "commodore," is by 1834. Related: Yachting; yachter; yachtsman; yachtsmanship.

also yak, "to talk persistently, chatter," 1950, slang, probably shortened from yackety-yacking "talk" (1947), probably echoic (compare Australian slang yacker "talk, conversation," 1882). Also compare yak (v.).

Related: Yacked; yacking. As a noun, "incessant talk," by 1958. The popular song "Yakety Yak" was released by the Coasters in 1958. The pop instrumental "Yakety Sax" was popularized 1963 by Boots Randolph.

"and so on," 1990s, of echoic origin (compare yatata "talk idly, chatter," 1940s; and yatter "to talk incessantly or idly," by 1825).

exclamation of defiance or dismissal, from 1812. Extended form yah-boo by 1910.