yes

[yes]

adverb

1. (used to express affirmation or assent or to mark the addition of something emphasizing and amplifying a previous statement).

   Do you want that? Yes, I do.

2. (used to express an emphatic contradiction of a previously negative statement or command).

   Don't do that! Oh, yes I will!

3. (used, usually interrogatively, to express hesitation, uncertainty, curiosity, etc.).

   “Yes?” he said as he opened the door. That was a marvelous show! Yes?

4. (used to express polite or minimal interest or attention.)

noun

plural

yeses 

1. an affirmative reply.

verb (used with object)

yessed, yessing 

1. to give an affirmative reply to; give assent or approval to.

interjection

1. (used as a strong expression of joy, pleasure, or approval.)

yes

/ jɛs /

1. used to express acknowledgment, affirmation, consent, agreement, or approval or to answer when one is addressed

2. used, often with interrogative intonation, to signal someone to speak or keep speaking, enter a room, or do something

noun

1. an answer or vote of yes

2. (often plural) a person who votes in the affirmative

Word History and Origins

Origin of yes¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English yes, yis, Old English gēse (adverb and noun), probably equivalent to gēa yea + sī “be it” (present subjunctive singular of bēon “to be”; be )

Word History and Origins

Origin of yes¹

Old English gēse, from iā sīe may it be; see _yea

Example Sentences

"At some point Democrats have to take yes for an answer."

Read more on Barron's

For love, yes, but also for health insurance.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

She can only communicate through blinking, saying "yes" or "no", but also working with a therapist is now able to use an electronic communicator to say a few words.

Read more on BBC

"But yes, people died during Covid. And my heart breaks for everyone that broken, that died in this state and across this nation."

Read more on BBC

That federal formula is also right for higher education: advocacy and choice, yes; mandates, no.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

When To Use

Plural word for yes

The plural form of yes is either yeses or yesses, but yeses is more widely used. The plurals of several other singular words that end in -s are also formed the same way, such as bus/buses/busses, gas/gases/gasses, and lotus/lotuses/lotusses. In some instances, particularly informally, the plural form of yes is written with an apostrophe, as in yes's. This is not considered standard, but it may be easier to understand in some contexts because many people are unfamiliar with the plural form of yes. The word yes is only pluralized when it is used as a noun rather than in its more common use as an adverb. The word yes as a noun means "an answer or vote of yes" or "a person who votes in the affirmative," as in The noes outnumbered the yeses.