yak

¹ American  

[yak] / yæk /

noun

1. a large, stocky, shaggy-haired wild ox, Bos grunniens, of the Tibetan highlands, having long, curved horns: endangered.

2. a domesticated variety of this animal.

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yak ² American  

[yak] / yæk /

Also yack,

verb (used without object)

yakked, yakking

1. to talk, especially uninterruptedly and idly; gab; chatter.

   They've been yakking on the phone for over an hour.

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noun

1. incessant idle or gossipy talk.

yak ³ American  

[yak] / yæk /

noun

Slang.

yakked, yakking

1. yuk.

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yak ¹ British  

/ jæk /

noun

1. Also: yakety-yak.  noisy, continuous, and trivial talk or conversation

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verb

1. (intr) to chatter or talk in this way; jabber

yak ² British  

/ jæk /

noun

1. a wild and domesticated type of cattle, Bos grunniens, of Tibet, having long horns and long shaggy hair

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Other Word Forms

• yakker
  noun

Etymology

Origin of yak¹

First recorded in 1785–95; from Tibetan gyag

Origin of yak²

An Americanism dating to 1820–25 for yakety-yak ( def. ) (noun)

Explanation

A yak is a big animal with horns and hooves that's native to Central Asia. A secondary, informal meaning of yak is "to chatter on and on." If you live in the Himalayas, you may spend a lot of time yakking about yaks. Yaks are relatives of cows and oxen, and in many parts of Tibet it's common to drink yak milk, eat yak meat, ride on yaks, and even race yaks. The English word comes from the Tibetan g-yag, "male yak." Yak can also mean "noisy chatter" or, as verb, "to chatter noisily and at length." This meaning is a variant of the verb yack or yuck and is unrelated to the word that denotes the animal.

Example Sentences

The equipment rental company is buying Yak Access for about $1.1 billion.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 4, 2024

Some qualities of “The Monk and the Gun” will seem like natural holdovers from the Oscar-nominated film that put this Buddhist writer-director on the map, 2019’s teacher-out-of-water tale “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.”

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 9, 2024

Much of this dialogue is playing out on Yik Yak, an anonymous, location-based social media app often used on college campuses.

From Washington Post • Feb. 15, 2023

"There is an overuse and abuse of the statute," said Jay Abt, a Georgia criminal defense lawyer who represents witnesses in the election investigation and is defending indicted rapper Deamonte Kendrick, known as "Yak Gotti."

From Reuters • Feb. 15, 2023

Lilya Litvyak got her ground crew to paint something even more personal on her Yak: a white lily, of course.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein