Y

A figure or mark in the shape of the letter Y.

Character

  1. The twenty-fifth letter of the English alphabet, called wye and written in the Latin script.
  2. Used for the Greek letter Υ (Y, “upsilon”).

Forms

y Ys Y's

Interjection

  1. Abbreviation of yes.

Origin

Abbreviations.

Proper noun Canada, US

  1. Clipping of YMCA or YWCA.
    • He had sat next to Cindy returning from the Y and smelled the chlorine on her. A sodden Band-Aid had clung by a few lingering bits of stickum to her knee. - 2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:

Origin

Clippings.

Forms

the Y

Proper noun alt of, obsolete

  1. Obsolete form of IJ: a lake (formerly a bay) adjoining the city of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
    • Amsterdam, Hol. fortif. on the gulf Y and the Amstel river, 27,000 ho. in the town, nearly as many in the suburbs; 210,000 inh. 1000 rp. 50,000 lm. 6000 sailors; well built, many canals, ground very damp and marshy,...

Origin

See IJ.

Noun Entry 5

  1. A figure or mark in the shape of the letter Y.
  2. A Y-shaped object, such as a railroad fork or a support for a telescope; a wye, a bifurcation.
  3. A moth of the genus Plusia, having markings resembling the letter Y.

Forms

Ys

Derived

eosin Y Y bone Y-linked Y worm

Noun abbreviation, alt of

  1. Abbreviation of year (In some contexts as YY or YYYY to indicate only the last 2-digits or all 4-digits.)

Forms

Ys

Noun Canada, US

  1. A particular facility run by the YMCA/YWCA.
    • Of course, the audience up here at the Bronx “Y” will probably be a little parochial, but if I make good in the lecture, I might one day end up speaking down at the Lex. Ave. “Y” where great thinkers like Norman Mailer...
    • When a 50ish woman at my Y learned that I was about to turn 80, she exclaimed, “80 is the new 60, and you set a great example for the rest of us!” - 2021 May 17, Jane E. Brody, “A Birthday Milestone: Turning 80!”, in...

Forms

Ys