How do you use the word "yankee" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "yankee": Are you a yankee? You can master English without adopting yankee ways.

Yankee Meaning

/ˈjæŋ.ki/

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA headsail resembling a genoa or a jib but with a high-cut clew, normally used together with a staysail. A sailing boat is typically equipped with three yankee sails of different sizes, number one being the largest.

nounA native or inhabitant of some part of the United States:, A native or inhabitant of the northern United States.

Sentence Examples

Are you a yankee?

You can master English without adopting yankee ways.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

northern

Antonyms:

southern

CEFR Practice Quiz

In the Civil War, a soldier from the Union army was known as a ____.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The word '____' is often used as a nickname for people who live in the northern several states today.

Word Origin & History

First attested in 1765, when it was described as "a name of derision … given by the Southern people on the Continent to those of New England". Various suggestions have been made as to its origin: that it derives from a Cherokee word meaning "slave" or "coward" and was applied to the New Englanders by the Virginians because the former refused to aid the latter in a war against the Cherokees; that it derives from Yengees, an Indian corruption of English; and that it derives from Janke, a pet form of the common Dutch forename Jan. The OED regards the last of these as "perhaps the most plausible".

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"[…]so that I couldn't help telling her, sir, that in our country, leastways in Virginia (they say the Yankees are very pert), young people don't speak of their elders so." — 1857–1859, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, chapter XXXIV, in The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1858–1859, →OCLC:

"“So, he is the father of Emmie Slattery’s baby,” thought Scarlett. “Oh, well. What else can you expect from a Yankee man and a white-trash girl?”" — 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published June 1944, →OCLC, part I, page 71:

"...in a short time, a kind of infectious mirth and pride in their bargains took possession of the place, and every one bought something, holding out their purchases to view, and praising them in the words and phraseology of the young yankees, who, finding their own importance, were not slow to avail themselves of it,..." — 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIX, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 194:

"Betting is complicated with win bets, place bets, each-way bets and complex bets such as doubles, trebles, Yankees and the like." — 1980 March 20, New Scientist, volume 85, number 1199:

"Kentuckians reportedly regarded a Yankee “as a sort of Jesuit” because of his religious zeal, while in Illinois the term yankeed was synonymous with cheated." — 2011, Colin Woodard, chapter 17, in American nations, New York: Penguin, →ISBN:

Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words