yak

¹ American  

[yak] / jæk /

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] / jæk /

Also yack,

verb (used without object)

yaks, present (3rd person singular) yakked, past participle, past yakking present participle

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] / jæk /

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

Derived Forms

• yakker
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• yakking
  present
• yakked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• yak
  simple
• yaks
  simple
• have yakked
  perfect
• has yakked
  perfect
• am yakking
  progressive
• are yakking
  progressive
• is yakking
  progressive
• have been yakking
  perfect progressive
• has been yakking
  perfect progressive

Past

• yakked
  simple
• had yakked
  perfect
• was yakking
  progressive
• were yakking
  progressive
• had been yakking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will yak
  simple
• will have yakked
  perfect
• will be yakking
  progressive
• will have been yakking
  perfect progressive

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

Dorji, who was nominated in this category for the drama “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom,” has embraced situational humor with his second film.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 29, 2023

Doug Weinstein, a lawyer for Deamonte Kendrick, the YSL rapper known as Yak Gotti, said, “There is art here, and the art has got to be separated from real life.”

From New York Times • Nov. 9, 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

Climbers who snidely denigrate this as the Yak Route, I decided, had obviously never been through the Khumbu Icefall.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer