yay

¹ American  

[yey] / jeɪ /

interjection

Informal.

1. (an exclamation used to express joy, excitement, etc.)

---

yay ² American  

[yey] / jeɪ /

Or yea

adverb

Informal.

1. to the extent, amount, etc., indicated.

   The doll is about yay high.

---

yay British  

/ jeɪ /

interjection

1. informal an exclamation indicating approval, congratulation, or triumph

---

Etymology

Origin of yay¹

First recorded in 1960–65; perhaps alteration of yeah

Origin of yay²

Probably < yea

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

yay

“There’s this song they were playing at the stadium in the seventh inning — I think it goes, ‘Oh yay, Blue Jays,’ something like that,” Rojas said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 6, 2026

I hadn't thought about it till it came out in the press, so yay, yay for me.

From Barron's ● Jan. 17, 2026

It’s saying, “Oh, yay, I get to flunk another math test this week,” when what you mean is that you are freaked out about your consistently terrible grades in math class.

From Salon ● Nov. 29, 2024

Roy runs into Phoebe’s teacher — yay, Phoebe, genuinely and always — and she says he seemed “stuck” the last time they spoke, which evidently serves to immediately unstick him.

From New York Times ● May 17, 2023

In the northeast is seen the yay, Niltci, who accompanied the Navajo prophet to the home of the snakes.

From The Mountain Chant, A Navajo Ceremony Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1883-84, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1887, pages 379-468 by Washington Matthews