yuck

Or yuk

[yuhk]

interjection

Slang.

1. (used as an expression of disgust or repugnance).

   Yuck, it's spinach again!

yuck

/ jʌk /

interjection

1. slang,  an exclamation indicating contempt, dislike, or disgust

Word History and Origins

Origin of yuck¹

An Americanism dating back to 1965–70; expressive word

Example Sentences

"It didn't tickle. But when it happened it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as pushing them back and getting them wired together to make the trip home. That was yuck... painful."

From BBC

Truelove and Rhodes Yepsen, the executive director of the bioplastic institute, also point to compost bin and can liners, noting that many people won’t participate in separating out their food waste if they can’t put it in a bag — the “yuck” factor.

From Los Angeles Times

In RoboCop, our yuck factor is carefully held at bay by the cyborg's tough, robotic exterior, but when Peter Weller, playing Adam Murphy/RoboCop, removes his helmet and we, and his partner Anne Lewis, truly see how his human body has been forcibly meshed with mechanical parts, it's not for nothing that he tells her "you may not like what you see."

From Salon

But Xu argues that the yuck factor is not a sound basis for deducing what's ethical and what's not.

From Salon

There's also what Nicole Xu, a bioengineer and research scientist who runs the Xu lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, calls the "yuck factor" — the reflexive sense of revulsion many of us feel at the mere idea of an animal, even an insect, modified with mechanical parts and stripped of free will.

From Salon

Related Words

• amusement 
• chuckle 
• giggle 
• glee 
• guffaw 
• hilarity 
• laugh 
• mirth 
• roar 
• shout 
• shriek 
• snicker 

When To Use

What does yuck mean?

Yuck is an informal word you say when you think something is gross or disgusting.It’s an interjection, which is a term used to express an emotion or indicate how you feel about something, typically outside of a sentence.Yuck is primarily used to indicate that you think a food is particularly disgusting or unappetizing. It can be used upon actually tasting something or simply upon looking at it, smelling, or maybe even feeling it—you might say yuck if something feels slimy, for example.Yuck is also sometimes used to express disgust about other things, such as something filthy or unpleasant weather, as in It’s so hot and sticky outside. Yuck.The adjective yucky is based on yuck and means gross, disgusting, or unappetizing. Yucky is associated with its use by children and is often thought of as a childish term. (While yuck is often used by children, especially those refusing to eat their vegetables, it’s commonly used in many ways that don’t sound childish.) Yuck is sometimes used in an even more informal way to mean about the same thing as yucky, as in My day was just yuck. The word yum can be thought of as the opposite of yuck, especially in response to food. Yum is an interjection used to indicate that you think something is delicious or looks appetizing. Like yuck, it can also be used in contexts other than food, such as to express that something is appealing.An even more informal variant of yuck is yucko, which can be used both as an interjection and an adjective.Yuck is sometimes used as an alternate spelling of the term yuk, which can be a noun meaning a loud laugh or a verb meaning to laugh or joke. (The spelling yuk can also be used as a variant of the interjection yuck.)Example: Broccoli? Yuck! I’d rather eat my own socks.