Y

A late borrowing from the Ancient Greek letter Υ (U, “ypsilon”), first used to write Greek loanwords in Latin, derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤅 (w, “waw”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓏲. Doublet of U, V, and F.

Letter

Y (lower case y)

The twenty-fifth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Symbol

Y

(chemistry) Chemical symbol for yttrium.
(metrology) Symbol for prefix yotta-
(genetics) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for any pyrimidine
(biochemistry) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for tyrosine
(travel, aviation) The reservation booking designator for the highest level of economy air fare.
(mathematics, computer science) A Fixed-point combinator; especially Haskell Curry's combinator defined as λ f.(λ x.f (x x)) (λx.f (x x))

Gallery

Letter styles
Uppercase and lowercase versions of Y, in normal and italic type
Uppercase and lowercase Y in Fraktur

English

Pronunciation

(name of letter) IPA^(key): /waɪ/
- Audio (Southern England): (file)
- Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -aɪ
Homophones: wye; why (wine–whine merger)

Etymology 1

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y, plural Ys or Y's)

The twenty-fifth letter of the English alphabet, called wye and written in the Latin script.
Used for the Greek letter Υ (Y, “upsilon”).

Noun

Y (plural Ys)

A figure or mark in the shape of the letter Y.
A Y-shaped object, such as a railroad fork or a support for a telescope; a wye, a bifurcation.
(lepidopterology) A moth of the genus Plusia, having markings resembling the letter Y.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Abbreviations.

Interjection

Y

Abbreviation of yes.

Noun

Y (plural Ys)

Abbreviation of year. (In some contexts as YY or YYYY to indicate only the last 2-digits or all 4-digits.)

Noun

Y

(Stenoscript) Abbreviation of year.

Etymology 3

Clippings.

Proper noun

the Y

(Canada, US) Clipping of the YMCA or YWCA.
- 2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections:
  He had sat next to Cindy returning from the Y and smelled the chlorine on her. A sodden Band-Aid had clung by a few lingering bits of stickum to her knee.

Noun

Y (plural Ys)

(Canada, US, informal) A particular facility run by the YMCA/YWCA.
- 1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN:
  Of course, the audience up here at the Bronx “Y” will probably be a little parochial, but if I make good in the lecture, I might one day end up speaking down at the Lex. Ave. “Y” where great thinkers like Norman Mailer and Seymour Krim are always airing their views.
- 2021 May 17, Jane E. Brody, “A Birthday Milestone: Turning 80!”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:
  When a 50ish woman at my Y learned that I was about to turn 80, she exclaimed, “80 is the new 60, and you set a great example for the rest of us!”

Etymology 4

See IJ.

Proper noun

Y

Obsolete form of IJ (“a lake (formerly a bay) adjoining the city of Amsterdam, Netherlands”).
- 1813, William Müller, D. P., Topographical and Military Description of Germany and the Surrounding Country, 2nd edition, London: T. Egerton, pages 4–5:
  Amsterdam, Hol. fortif. on the gulf Y and the Amstel river, 27,000 ho. in the town, nearly as many in the suburbs; 210,000 inh. 1000 rp. 50,000 lm. 6000 sailors; well built, many canals, ground very damp and marshy, very clean streets, […]

Afar

Letter

Y

The twenty-second and final letter in the Afar alphabet.

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /əɪ̯/

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-fifth letter of the Afrikaans alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Noun

Y (plural Y's, diminutive Y'tjie)

Y

Azerbaijani

Letter

Y upper case (lower case y)

The thirty-first letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Basque

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /i ɡreko/, [i ɣ̞re̞.ko̞]

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-sixth letter of the Basque alphabet, called i greko and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Used chiefly in recent loanwords and foreign proper nouns.

Catalan

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [i ˈɣɾe.ɣə]
IPA^(key): (Valencia) [i ˈɣɾe.ɣa]

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-fifth letter of the Catalan alphabet, called i grega and written in the Latin script.

Central Franconian

Pronunciation

/i/, (German-based also) /y/, /yː/

Letter

Y

A letter in the German-based alphabet of Central Franconian.
A letter in the Dutch-based alphabet of Central Franconian.

Usage notes

Only used rarely in loanwords, respectively after the German or Dutch cognate.

Chinese

Pronunciation 1

Mandarin
(Pinyin): wài (wai⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄨㄞˋ
Cantonese (Jyutping): wai¹
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): u-ai

(Teochew, Peng'im): uai⁵
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹wa-i

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: wài
  - Zhuyin: ㄨㄞˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: wài
  - Wade–Giles: wai⁴
  - Yale: wài
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: way
  - Palladius: вай (vaj)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /waɪ̯⁵¹/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: wai¹
  - Yale: wāi
  - Cantonese Pinyin: wai¹
  - Guangdong Romanization: wei¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /wɐi̯⁵⁵/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: u-ai
  - Tâi-lô: u-ai
  - Phofsit Daibuun: u'ay
  - IPA (Xiamen): /u⁴⁴⁻²² ai⁴⁴/

Note: Often realised as one syllable.

- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: uai⁵
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: uâi
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /uai⁵⁵/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ¹wa-i
  - MiniDict: wa^平 i
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹hhua-i
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ɦua⁵⁵ i²¹/

Note: Often realised as one syllable.

Letter

Y

The twenty-fifth letter of the Latin alphabet.

Pronunciation 2

Mandarin
(Pinyin): yī, yā (yi¹, ya¹)

(Zhuyin): ㄧ, ㄧㄚ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, common)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: yī
  - Zhuyin: ㄧ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: yi
  - Wade–Giles: i¹
  - Yale: yī
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: i
  - Palladius: и (i)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /i⁵⁵/
- (Standard Chinese, official)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: yā
  - Zhuyin: ㄧㄚ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: ya
  - Wade–Giles: ya¹
  - Yale: yā
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ia
  - Palladius: я (ja)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /jä⁵⁵/

Letter

Y

The twenty-fifth letter used in Pinyin.

Usage notes

《汉语拼音方案》 defines a standard pronunciation for each letter. However, these pronunciations are rarely used in education; another pronunciation is commonly used instead.
The pronunciation above are only used while referring to letters in Pinyin. They are not used in other context (such as English).

Dutch

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɛɪ/
Audio: (file)

Letter

Y (capital, lowercase y)

the twenty-fifth letter of the Dutch alphabet

Estonian

Pronunciation

(letter name, igrek): IPA^(key): /ˈiɡ.rek/
(letter name, üpsilon): IPA^(key): /ˈyp.si.lon/

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The thirty-second letter of the Estonian alphabet, called igrek / üpsilon and written in the Latin script.

Finnish

Etymology

The Finnish orthography using the Latin script was based on those of Swedish, German and Latin, and was first used in the mid-16th century. No earlier script is known. See the Wikipedia article on Finnish for more information, and Y for information on the development of the glyph itself. In particular, the use of ⟨y⟩ for /y/ follows the Swedish orthography, which in turn follows Latin.

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-fourth letter of the Finnish alphabet, called yy and written in the Latin script.

Derived terms

compounds

French

Etymology

From Old French Y, Hy, I from Latin Iacum.^[1]

French Wikipedia has an article on:

Y (Somme)

Wikipedia ^fr

Y

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /i/
Audio: (file)
Audio: (file)

Letter

French Wikipedia has an article on:

Y

Wikipedia ^fr

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /i ɡʁɛk/
Audio: (file)

Y (capital, lowercase y)

The twenty-fifth letter of the French alphabet.

Related terms

i grec

Proper noun

Y ?

A French commune in the Somme département.

Related terms

References

^ https://dicotopo.cths.fr/places/P97397572

German

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /ˈʏpsilɔn/
- Audio: (file)
(phoneme)
- In Greek words generally /ʏ/, /yː/, but in unstressed syllables alternatively /i/ (e.g. in poly-).
- In other borrowings, e.g. from English, /j/, /i/, /aɪ̯/, etc.
- Natively only in proper nouns, mostly in -ay-, -ey-, both pronounced /aɪ̯/.

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-fifth letter of the German alphabet, called Ypsilon.

Hungarian

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): [ˈi]
(letter name): IPA^(key): [ˈipsilon]

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

A letter of the extended Hungarian alphabet, called ipszilon and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Also occurs as part of the digraphs Gy, Ly, Ny, Ty, though these are considered letters in their own right.

Declension

Inflection (stem in *-o-*, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	Y	Y-ok
accusative	Y-t	Y-okat
dative	Y-nak	Y-oknak
instrumental	Y-nal	Y-okkal
causal-final	Y-ért	Y-okért
translative	Y-ná	Y-okká
terminative	Y-ig	Y-okig
essive-formal	Y-ként	Y-okként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	Y-ban	Y-okban
superessive	Y-on	Y-okon
adessive	Y-nál	Y-oknál
illative	Y-ba	Y-okba
sublative	Y-ra	Y-okra
allative	Y-hoz	Y-okhoz
elative	Y-ból	Y-okból
delative	Y-ról	Y-okról
ablative	Y-tól	Y-októl
non-attributive possessive – singular	Y-é	Y-oké
non-attributive possessive – plural	Y-éi	Y-okéi

Possessive forms of Y
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	Y-om	Y-aim, Y-jaim
2nd person sing.	Y-od	Y-aid, Y-jaid
3rd person sing.	Y-a, Y-ja	Y-ai, Y-jai
1st person plural	Y-unk	Y-aink, Y-jaink
2nd person plural	Y-otok	Y-aitok, Y-jaitok
3rd person plural	Y-uk, Y-juk	Y-aik, Y-jaik

Derived terms

Y-kromoszóma

Icelandic

Letter

Y (lower case y)

The twenty-eighth letter of the Icelandic alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Ido

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /j/

Letter

Y (lower case y)

The twenty-fifth letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Irish

Letter

Y (upper case)

A letter of the Latin alphabet, not used in Irish except in foreign words and scientific terminology

Derived terms

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:

Y

Wikipedia ^it

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /i‿ɡˈɡrɛ.ka/, /i‿ɡˈɡrɛ.ko/, /ˈi.psi.lon/^[1]
- Rhymes: -ipsilon
(phonemic realization) IPA^(key): /j/, /i/ (varies depending on the loanword)

Letter

Y f or m (invariable, upper case, lower case y)

the twenty-fifth letter of the Latin alphabet, called ipsilon, i greco or i greca in Italian

Usage notes

The letter Y is not considered part of the Italian alphabet. It is found mainly in loanwords.

References

^ Y in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Kankanaey

Etymology

Borrowed from Tagalog Y. Letter pronunciation is influenced by English Y.

Pronunciation

(letter name) IPA^(key): /waj/ [wai̯]
- Rhymes: -aj
(phoneme) IPA^(key): /i/ [i̞]
- Rhymes: -i

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-seventh letter of the Kankanaey alphabet, called way and written in the Latin script.

References

Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (2016) Ortograpiya di Kankanaëy [Kankanaey Orthography]‎^[2] (in Kankanaey and Tagalog), →ISBN, pages 10-11

Kashubian

Etymology

The Kashubian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Kashubian alphabet article on Wikipedia for more, and Y for development of the glyph itself.

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The thirty-first letter of the Kashubian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Latin

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

A letter in the Latin alphabet, representing the vowels /y/ and /yː/

Usage notes

Historical Latin texts did not generally distinguish short and long vowels orthographically. In modern texts and editions of older texts, the vowels are typically written ⟨Y⟩ and ⟨Ȳ⟩ to mark the length distinction.

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɨ/

Letter

Y (lower case y)

The thirty-first letter of the Lower Sorbian alphabet, called y and written in the Latin script.

Malay

Malay Wikipedia has an article on:

Y

Wikipedia ^ms

Pronunciation

(Name of letter) IPA^(key): [wai̯]
(Phoneme) IPA^(key): [j]

Letter

Y

The twenty-fifth letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Navajo

Letter

Y (lower case y)

A letter of the Navajo alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Nupe

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /j/

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-eighth letter of the Nupe alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Polish

Etymology

The Polish orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the history of Polish orthography article on Wikipedia for more, and Y for development of the glyph itself.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈi.ɡrɛk/

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-ninth letter of the Polish alphabet, called y or igrek and written in the Latin script.

Portuguese

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-fifth letter of the Portuguese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Noun

Y m (plural Ys)

fork (area where something forks)
Synonyms: forquilha, bifurcação, ramificação

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /j/, /i/

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The thirtieth letter of the Romanian alphabet, called igrec or i grec and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

Used chiefly in recent loanwords and foreign proper nouns.

Saanich

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /j/, /jʼ/

Letter

Y

The thirty-seventh letter of the Saanich alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Silesian

Etymology

The Silesian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Silesian language article on Wikipedia for more, and Y for development of the glyph itself.

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The thirty-first letter of the Silesian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Slovene

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:

Y

Wikipedia ^sl

Letter

Y (capital, lowercase y)

The thirty-third letter of the Slovene alphabet (Resian), written in the Latin script.

Somali

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /ʝ/, /ɪ̯/, /i̯/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /ʝæ/

Letter

Y upper case (lower case y)

The twenty-second letter of the Somali alphabet, called ya and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

The twenty-second letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by H and followed by A.

Spanish

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

the 26th letter of the Spanish alphabet

Swedish

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-fifth letter of the Swedish alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Tagalog

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Spanish Y. Each pronunciation has a different source:

Filipino alphabet pronunciation is influenced by English Y.
Abakada alphabet pronunciation is influenced by Baybayin character ᜌ (ya).
Abecedario pronunciation is from Spanish Y.

Pronunciation

(Standard Tagalog)
- IPA^(key): /ˈwaj/ [ˈwaɪ̯] (letter name, Filipino alphabet)
  - Rhymes: -aj
- IPA^(key): /ˈja/ [ˈja] (letter name, Abakada alphabet)
  - Rhymes: -a
- IPA^(key): /ˈje/ [ˈjɛ] (letter name, Abecedario)
  - Rhymes: -e
- IPA^(key): /j/ [j] (phoneme)
- IPA^(key): /i/ [ɪ] (phoneme, used as a vowel)
  - Rhymes: -i

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-seventh letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Filipino alphabet), called way and written in the Latin script.
The twentieth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Abakada alphabet), called ya and written in the Latin script.
(historical) The twenty-seventh letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Abecedario), called ye and written in the Latin script.

Etymology 2

Noun

Y (Baybayin spelling ᜁ)

Obsolete spelling of I.

Turkish

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-eighth letter of the Turkish alphabet, called ye and written in the Latin script.

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔi˧˧ zaːj˨˩], [ʔi˧˧ ɣəː˨˩ zɛt̚˧˦]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɪj˧˧ jaːj˦˩], [ʔɪj˧˧ ɣəː˦˩ ʐɛt̚˦˧˥]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɪj˧˧ jaːj˨˩], [ʔɪj˧˧ ɣəː˨˩ ɹɛk̚˦˥]
Phonetic spelling: i dài, i gờ rét

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-ninth letter of the Vietnamese alphabet, called i dài or i gờ-rét and written in the Latin script.

Welsh

Pronunciation

(standard) IPA^(key): /ə/, /əː/

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-ninth letter of the Welsh alphabet, called e and written in the Latin script. It is preceded by W.

Mutation

Y cannot be mutated but, being a vowel, does take h-prothesis, for example with the word ysgol (“school; ladder”):

Mutated forms of *ysgol*
radical	soft	nasal	h-prothesis
ysgol	unchanged	unchanged	hysgol

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Yoruba

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /j/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /jí/

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-fifth letter of the Yoruba alphabet, called yí and written in the Latin script.

Zulu

Letter

Y (upper case, lower case y)

The twenty-fifth letter of the Zulu alphabet, written in the Latin script.