yakka

American

[yak-uh] / ˈyæk ə /

noun

Australian.

work, especially hard work.

yakka British

/ ˈjækə /

noun

informal work

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of yakka

First recorded in 1885–90; earlier spellings yacker, wakker; of obscure origin; possibly from Yagara (an extinct Australian Aboriginal language of Queensland) yaga “to work”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This was hard yakka in hot sun on an unresponsive pitch with a ball less likely to misbehave than a child on Christmas Eve.

From BBC • Jul. 19, 2024

The next night, after a lot of hard yakka in the field, assistant coach Jeetan Patel said, without flinching, "nothing is impossible" with this team.

From BBC • Jan. 28, 2024

England can look forward to some hard yakka.

From BBC • Jun. 16, 2023

Eventually he did, holding his serve, but it was a lot of hard yakka just to stay in the match.

From The Guardian • Jan. 27, 2020

Klatawa kimtah, go behind; nika elip, pe yakka kimtah, I first, and he afterwards; okook kimtah, the one behind; kimtah nika nannitsh mika, since I saw you.

From Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, or, Trade Language of Oregon by Gibbs, George

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023