Yankee

Yan·kee  (yngk)

n.

1. A native or inhabitant of New England.

2. A native or inhabitant of a northern U.S. state, especially a Union soldier during the Civil War.

3. A native or inhabitant of the United States.

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[Probably from Dutch Janke, nickname of Jan, John.]

Word History: The origin of Yankee has been the subject of much debate, but the most likely source is the Dutch name Janke, meaning "little Jan" or "little John," a nickname that dates back to the 1680s. Perhaps because it was used as the name of pirates, the name Yankee came to be used as a term of contempt. It was used this way in the 1750s by General James Wolfe, the British general who secured British domination of North America by defeating the French at Quebec. The name may have been applied to New Englanders as an extension of an original use referring to Dutch settlers living along the Hudson River. Whatever the reason, Yankee is first recorded in 1765 as a name for an inhabitant of New England. The first recorded use of the term by the British to refer to Americans in general appears in the 1780s, in a letter by Lord Horatio Nelson, no less. Around the same time it began to be abbreviated to Yank. During the American Revolution, American soldiers adopted this term of derision as a term of national pride. The derisive use nonetheless remained alive and even intensified in the South during the Civil War, when it referred not to all Americans but to those loyal to the Union. Now the term carries less emotionexcept of course for baseball fans.

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Yankee

Noun

1. Slang same as Yank

2. a person from the Northern United States

Adjective

of or characteristic of Yankees [perhaps from Dutch Jan Kees John Cheese, nickname for English colonists]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	Yankee - an American who lives in the North (especially during the American Civil War) Yank, Northerner U.S.A., United States, United States of America, US, USA, America, the States, U.S. - North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776 North - the region of the United States lying to the north of the Mason-Dixon line American - a native or inhabitant of the United States Federal, Federal soldier, Union soldier - a member of the Union Army during the American Civil War
	2.	Yankee - an American who lives in New England New Englander New England - a region of northeastern United States comprising Maine and New Hampshire and Vermont and Massachusetts and Rhode Island and Connecticut American - a native or inhabitant of the United States
	3.	Yankee - an American (especially to non-Americans) Yankee-Doodle, Yank American - a native or inhabitant of the United States
Adj.	1.	Yankee - used by Southerners for an inhabitant of a northern state in the United States (especially a Union soldier) northern - in or characteristic of a region of the United States north of (approximately) the Mason-Dixon line; "Northern liberals"; "northern industry"; "northern cities"