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• y
  y

  an unknown quantity.
• Y
  Y

  noun

  the 25th letter of the English alphabet, a semivowel.
• y-
  y-

  a prefix occurring in certain obsolete words (ywis ) and especially in archaic past participles.
• -y
  -y

  a native English suffix of adjectives meaning “characterized by or inclined to” the substance or action of the word or stem to which the suffix is attached: juicy; grouchy; rumbly; dreamy. Sometimes used to mean “allowing, fostering, or bringing about” the specified action: sippy.
• y.
  y.

  abbreviation

  yard; yards.
• Y.
  Y.

  abbreviation

  YMCA or YWCA

y

¹ American  

Symbol, Mathematics.

1. an unknown quantity.

2. (in Cartesian coordinates) the y-axis.

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Y ² American  

[wahy] / waɪ /

Or y

noun

• Y's,
  plural
• Ys,
  plural
• y's,
  plural
• ys
  plural

1. the 25th letter of the English alphabet, a semivowel.

2. any spoken sound represented by the letter Y or y, as in yet, city, or rhythm.

3. something having the shape of a Y .

4. a written or printed representation of the letter Y or y.

5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter Y or y.

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Y ³ American  

[wahy] / waɪ /

abbreviation

1. Informal. the Y, the YMCA, YWCA, YMHA, or YWHA.

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Y ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. yen.

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Y ⁵ American  

Symbol.

1. the 25th in order or in a series.

2. (sometimes lowercase) the medieval Roman numeral for 150.

3. Electricity. admittance. Sometimes y

4. Chemistry. yttrium.

5. Biochemistry. tyrosine.

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y- ⁶ American  

Also i-

1. a prefix occurring in certain obsolete words (ywis ) and especially in archaic past participles.

   yclad.

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-y ⁷ American  

1. a native English suffix of adjectives meaning “characterized by or inclined to” the substance or action of the word or stem to which the suffix is attached: juicy; grouchy; rumbly; dreamy. Sometimes used to mean “allowing, fostering, or bringing about” the specified action: sippy.

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-y ⁸ American  

Also -ie

1. a noun-forming suffix with a variety of functions in contemporary English, added to monosyllabic bases to create words that are almost always informal. Its earliest use, probably still productive, was to form endearing or familiar names or common nouns from personal names, other nouns, and adjectives (Billy; Susie; birdie; doggie; granny; sweetie; tummy ). The hypocoristic feature is absent in recent coinages, however, which are simply informal and sometimes pejorative (boonies; cabby; groupie; hippy; looie; Okie; preemie; preppy; rookie ). Another function of -y2 -ie is the formation from adjectives of nouns that denote exemplary or extreme instances of the quality named by the adjective (baddie; biggie; cheapie; toughie ), sometimes focusing on a restricted, usually unfavorable sense of the adjective (sharpie; sickie; whitey ). A few words in which the informal character of -y2 -ie has been lost are now standard in formal written English (goalie; movie ).

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-y ⁹ American  

1. a suffix of various origins used in the formation of action nouns from verbs (inquiry ), also found in other abstract nouns.

   carpentry; infamy.

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y. ¹⁰ American  

abbreviation

1. yard; yards.

2. year; years.

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Y ¹ British  

symbol

1. any unknown, unspecified, or variable factor, number, person, or thing

2. chem yttrium

3. currency

   1. yen

   2. yuan

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y ² British  

/ waɪ /

noun

1. the 25th letter of the modern English alphabet

2. a speech sound represented by this letter, in English usually a semivowel, as in yawn, or a vowel, as in symbol or shy

3. 1. something shaped like a Y

   2. ( in combination )

      a Y-cross

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-y ³ British  

suffix

1. (from nouns) characterized by; consisting of; filled with; relating to; resembling

   sunny

   sandy

   smoky

   classy

2. (from verbs) tending to; acting or existing as specified

   leaky

   shiny

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-y ⁴ British  

suffix

1. denoting smallness and expressing affection and familiarity

   a doggy

   a granny

   Jamie

2. a person or thing concerned with or characterized by being

   a groupie

   a fatty

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-y ⁵ British  

suffix

1. (from verbs) indicating the act of doing what is indicated by the verbal element

   inquiry

2. (esp with combining forms of Greek, Latin, or French origin) indicating state, condition, or quality

   geography

   jealousy

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y ⁶ British  

symbol

1. the y- axis or a coordinate measured along the y- axis in a Cartesian coordinate system

2. an algebraic variable

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Y. ⁷ British  

abbreviation

1. YMCA or YWCA

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y. ⁸ British  

abbreviation

1. year

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Y's
  plural
• Ys
  plural
• y's
  plural
• ys
  plural

Etymology

Origin of y-⁶

Middle English y-, i- (reduced variant a- ), Old English ge-, prefix with perfective, intensifying, or collective force; cognate with Old Frisian, Old Saxon ge-, gi-, Gothic ga-, German ge-; compare perhaps Latin com- com-

Origin of -y⁷

Old English -ig; cognate with German -ig; compare perhaps Latin -icus, Greek -ikos

Origin of -y⁸

From late Middle English (Scots), originally in names; of uncertain origin; baby and puppy, now felt as having this suffix, may be of different derivation

Origin of -y⁹

Representing Latin -ia, -ium; Greek -ia, -eia, -ion; French -ie; German -ie

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

y Y y- -y y. Y. Y's Ys y's ys

“The gap it’s jumping is so big,” said Leonel Pereznieto, a partner with the Mexico City office of law firm Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enriquez.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

“When people say, ‘my probability of doom is x or y or whatever, it hits in a different way,” said Altman.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

The patriarch played a crucial role in the development of his daughter Selena’s career, establishing his family-led band Selena y Los Dinos in the 1980s as a way to meet financial needs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026

Two separate wildfires in the Madrid region combined on Friday to form one huge blaze, which threatened to merge with a third near Avila in the neighbouring Castilla y Leon region.

From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026

Every state has its slogan urging its citizens to be prepared to die if necessary for the state: Britain’s “For King and Country,” Spain’s “Por Dios y Espana,” and so on.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Developers want to construct a complex on a 101 acre site between Caernarfon and Y Felinheli, in Gwynedd, saying it could create more than 900 jobs during construction and 200 permanent roles.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Asked on S4C's Y Byd yn ei Le if he would be happy to get rid of the Wales Office, Drakeford said: "Yes, I think the time has come for us to think about that."

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

Rajaniemi first met Sam Altman in 2016, when the OpenAI chief was still working with the startup incubator Y Combinator and the two discussed pandemics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

Tesla has been allowed to develop and operate Gigafactory Shanghai, which produces the Model 3 and Model Y, without a Chinese partner — a first for a foreign automaker.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

Or the attendant at the Y locker room.

From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli

Now, let’s look at the points where these lines cross the y- axis.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 22, 2020

Use the equation of the line to find the y- intercept of the line, let x = 0 and solve for y.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 22, 2020

This time the y- value is a constant, so in this equation, y does not depend on x .

From Textbooks ● Apr. 22, 2020

For each row, the y- coordinate of the point where the line crosses the x- axis is zero.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 22, 2020

The infinitives of verbs rarely have y- prefixed; two examples are y-lere, 12, y-se, 334.

From The Lay of Havelok the Dane by Unknown

It’s another day ending in -y so Fortnite is having a new crossover event.

From The Verge ● Aug. 12, 2021

There has been a bit of inconsistency with the spelling of Zoey’s name, but it is with a -y.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 3, 2020

Well-established steps test for symmetry about an axis: replace x or y with -x or -y and then simplify the equation.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 10, 2018

As for her name, did the author mean to suggest a diminutive or nickname—in English nomenclature, the -y ending is typical of both—or perhaps chokkie, nursery slang for a chocolate treat?

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2015

Nouns ending in -a, -e, -i, -y, -o, -l, -n, -t, -ar, -ur, -ŭs are Neuter.

From New Latin Grammar by Charles E. (Charles Edwin) Bennett

Find x and y. x = Dx, y = Dy.

From Textbooks ● May 6, 2020

Commander Joseph Jerome Sher in the Naval Medical Bulletin sidesteps the whole open *y. closed debate, recommends using the X-ray technique for 30 days in each cyst case before resorting to surgery.

From Time Magazine Archive

The section below is a small portion of the blastodermic area. b.d., blastoderm. y., the undivided yolk. s.c., the segmentation between the blastoderm and yolk.

From Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells

This identification has been corroborated by Dr. Philip H. Krutzsch, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and extends the known range of the subspecies M. y. yumanensis approximately 300 miles northeastward in Utah.

From Additional Records and Extensions of Known Ranges of Mammals from Utah by Stephen D. Durrant

The principal abbreviations used in these pages are: b. standing for born. m. standing for married. d. standing for died. y. standing for young.

From The Stephens Family A Genealogy of the Descendants of Joshua Stevens by Alonzo Smith Bower

Every third EV sold in the U.S. this year has been a Model Y. This summer, Tesla broadened the vehicle’s appeal by launching a slightly longer variant, the Model Y L, with six seats.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

Or, when the bot feels sassy: “Not X. Not Y. But Z.”

From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2026

The project’s curator, Christine Y. Kim, said “sister dreamer” gained momentum during the pandemic, when the need for public gathering spaces became urgent.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026

An earlier form of Y. pestis appeared about 5,000 years ago during the Bronze Age.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2026

Their names all ended with Y. Her husband, Clarence Pastor, had black lung and sat on the front porch of their huge sagging house all day long, but he never smiled or waved at passersby.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

As for millennials, if you’re looking to draw that line for the current crop of thirty-to-fortysomethings, the point that separates Gen Y’s art and all that came before, look no further than Lena Dunham.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

The Model Y’s human-machine interface doesn’t include a typical gear selector.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

The Model Y’s charging rate maxes out at 250 kW.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

"The council failed to consider carrying out an interim review when Y left school and failed again to do so when Y's alternative provision was unsuccessful," it said.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2025

Thanks to his long acquaintanceship with the locker room attendant, he and Maniac were privileged to continue using the Y’s shower facilities at their pleasure.

From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli

Still, Tesla could be raising prices because it sees strong demand for higher-end Model Ys.

From Barron's ● May 17, 2026

To doubters, Scaringe and his executives frequently point to the success of Tesla’s similarly sized and priced Model Y. Tesla sold nearly 360,000 Model Ys in the U.S. in 2025, making it America’s bestselling EV.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026

One such lost city – Ys – was believed to lie in the Bay of Douarnenez, just a few kilometres to the east.

From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2025

EVs are scarce here in Milan’s inner city, with a smattering of Tesla Model 3s and Ys and shoebox-sized Smart and Citroën Ami EVs.

From Seattle Times ● May 28, 2023

It was a note, and it read: New CC was testing for undetected Ys, Os, Rs.

From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken

We have the y’s on the right and the constants on the left.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 22, 2020

I should have typed ‘Hey’ with two y’s, not just one!’

From The Guardian ● Jan. 10, 2016

“I should have typed ‘Hey’ with two y’s, not just one!”

From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2015

I could add and subtract and multiply and divide, but I entered the wilderness when words became equations and x’s and y’s.

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 26, 2015

Once the guppies turn into x's and y’s, my contacts fog.

From "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

The original is as follows: “By commyxstion and mellyng furst wiþ danes and afterward wiþ Normans in menye þe contray longage ys apeyred, and som vseþ strange wlaffyng, chyteryng, harrying and garryng, grisbittyng.”

From The Guardian ● Aug. 15, 2019

“He sa ys he kno ws,” Helen told Theresa.

From "Typical American" by Gish Jen

Euyry man toke ys leve, ase I yow say, Hom-ward to wend ther wey, Euery man ys Rest to take.

From Torrent of Portyngale by Unknown

I Red yow let Torent her haue, For best worthy ys he.’

From Torrent of Portyngale by Unknown

‘Syr kyng,’ he seyd, ‘be goddes dede, Torrant bryngythe a devyll̴ ys hed, 380 Ther with he woll̴ yow present.’

From Torrent of Portyngale by Unknown

Related Words

• corner
• edge
• intersection
• slant
• twist