yank means A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States.; Someone from the northern United States. It carries an Arena rating of 1349, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, yank ranks #1,199 of 17,123 for Most Malleable Words, #2,042 of 17,130 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,158 of 17,116 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,330 of 17,115 for Most Vivid Words.
yank is pronounced /jæŋk/.
Why “yank” is a great word
A sudden, sharp pull, or an American, especially from the northern states. From Yankee, a clipping. The noun sense for an American is attested from the late 18th century. The verb sense 'to pull sharply' is attested from 1822, of uncertain origin, possibly from Scots. Unlike a tug, which implies a persistent, wearying strain, or a draw, which suggests a smooth and deliberate retrieval, a yank is a singular, brusque event: the startled rip of a stuck drawer, the swift uprooting of a weed by its stem, the dentist’s decisive extraction of a molar. It is the sound of something giving way, a clean break with what came before.
Etymology
Clipping of Yankee.
noun
- A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States.; Someone from the northern United States.e.g.“Halt! come down there, you Yanks, come down!”
- A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States.; Someone from the northern United States.; One from New England.
- A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States.; Someone from the northern United States.; Someone on the Union side.
- A native or inhabitant of some part of the United States.; Someone from the United States.
- A sudden, vigorous pull (sometimes defined as mass times jerk, or rate of change of force).e.g.“He unjammed the rope with a short yank.”
- An act of masturbation.
verb
- To pull (something) with a quick, strong action.e.g.“Now a white-backed rams its head down the wildebeest’s throat and yanks out an eight-inch length of trachea, ribbed like a vacuum hose.”
- To remove; to recall or revoke.e.g.“They yanked the product as soon as they learned it was unsafe.”
- To masturbate.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- yankism 70% match — A word or phrase originating from or specific to American English. vs yank →
- americansky 70% match — Yank, Yankee (stereotypical Slavic term of abuse for a U.S. American, e.g. used by or attributed to Soviets). vs yank →
- yankophilic 67% match — Fond of or admiring the United States or American culture. vs yank →
- yankeeism 66% match — An American word, phrase or custom; an Americanism. vs yank →
- yanker 64% match — Someone who yanks, or gives a sudden hard pull vs yank →
- yankspeak 64% match — The English language as spoken by Americans. vs yank →
- yankeedom 63% match — The region inhabited by Yankees. vs yank →
- northerner 62% match — A native or inhabitant of the north of a region (or of the world as a whole), such as one of the northern United States, the north of Norway, etc. vs yank →