What is "yankee"

Yankee \Yan"kee\, a. Of or pertaining to a Yankee; characteristic of the Yankees.

The alertness of the Yankee aspect.
--Hawthorne.

Yankee clover. (Bot.) See Japan clover, under Japan.

Yankee \Yan"kee\, n. [Commonly considered to be a corrupt pronunciation of the word English, or of the French word Anglais, by the native Indians of America. According to Thierry, a corruption of Jankin, a diminutive of John, and a nickname given to the English colonists of Connecticut by the Dutch settlers of New York. Dr. W. Gordon (``Hist. of the Amer. War,'' ed, 1789, vol. i., pp. 324, 325) says it was a favorite cant word in Cambridge, Mass., as early as 1713, and that it meant excellent; as, a yankee good horse, yankee good cider, etc. Cf. Scot yankie a sharp, clever, and rather bold woman, and Prov. E. bow-yankees a kind of leggins worn by agricultural laborers.] A nickname for a native or citizen of New England, especially one descended from old New England stock; by extension, an inhabitant of the Northern States as distinguished from a Southerner; also, applied sometimes by foreigners to any inhabitant of the United States.

From meanness first this Portsmouth Yankey rose, And still to meanness all his conduct flows.
--Oppression, A poem by an American (Boston, 1765).

1683, a name applied disparagingly by Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam (New York) to English colonists in neighboring Connecticut. It may be from Dutch Janke, literally "Little John," diminutive of common personal name Jan; or it may be from Jan Kes familiar form of "John Cornelius," or perhaps an alteration of Jan Kees, dialectal variant of Jan Kaas, literally "John Cheese," the generic nickname the Flemings used for Dutchmen.\n\n[I]t is to be noted that it is common to name a droll fellow, regarded as typical of his country, after some favorite article of food, as E[nglish] Jack-pudding, G[erman] Hanswurst ("Jack Sausage"), F[rench] Jean Farine ("Jack Flour").

[Century Dictionary, 1902, entry for "macaroni"]

\nOriginally it seems to have been applied insultingly to the Dutch, especially freebooters, before they turned around and slapped it on the English. A less-likely theory (attested by 1832) is that it represents some southern New England Algonquian language mangling of English. In English a term of contempt (1750s) before its use as a general term for "native of New England" (1765); during the American Revolution it became a disparaging British word for all American natives or inhabitants. Contrasted with southerner by 1828. Shortened form Yank in reference to "an American" first recorded 1778. Latin-American form Yanqui attested in English by 1914 (in Mexican Spanish by 1835).\n\nThe rule observed in this country is, that the man who receives that name [Yankee] must come from some part north of him who gives it. To compensate us for giving each other nicknames, John Bull "lumps us all together," and calls us all Yankees.

["Who is a Yankee?" Massachusetts Spy, June 6, 1827]

n. 1 A native or inhabitant of New England. 2 A native or inhabitant of the Northern USA. (qualifier: used in this sense especially by inhabitants of the Southern USA) 3 A native or inhabitant of the USA. (context used in this sense especially outside of the USA English) 4 (context nautical English) A large triangular headsail used in light or moderate winds and set on the fore topmast stay. Unlike a genoa it does not fill the whole fore triangle, but is set in combination with the working staysail. 5 (context baseball English) A player that plays for the http://en.wikipedi

1. org/wiki/New%20York%20Yankees. 6 A wager on four selections, consisting of 11 separate bets: six doubles, four trebles and a fourfold accumulator. A minimum two selections must win to gain a return. v

2. (context dated slang US Canada sometimes offensive English) to cheat, trick or swindle somebody; to misrepresent something

The term "Yankee" and its contracted form "Yank" have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the scope of context. Most broadly:

• Outside the United States, "Yank" is used informally to refer to any American, including Southerners.
• Within Southern American English, "Yankee" is a derisive term used to refer to any and all Northerners, or those from the regions of the Union side of the American Civil War.
• Elsewhere in the United States, it largely refers to people from the Northeast, but especially those with New England cultural ties, such as descendants from colonial New England settlers, wherever they live. Its sense is more cultural than literally geographic. The speech dialect of New England is called "Yankee" or "Yankee dialect". Within New England itself, the term "Yankee" refers specifically to old-stock New Englanders of English descent.

The informal British and Irish English "Yank", which refers to Americans in general, is especially popular among Britons and Australians and sometimes carries pejorative overtones. The Southern American English "Yankee" is typically uncontracted and at least mildly pejorative.

Yankee is a term for various groups of Americans.

Yankee may also refer to:

Yankee is a 1966 Italian Western film directed by Tinto Brass and starring Philippe Leroy.

Yankee is the second studio album by Japanese musician Kenshi Yonezu and fourth original album release. It was released on April 23, 2014, followed by his first live concert on June 27, 2014.

Yankee was a 1930 yacht of the J Class. It was ordered by John Silsbee Lawrence and designed by Frank Cabot Paine. Yankee was scrapped in 1941.

Yankee Magazine was founded in 1935 and is based in Dublin, New Hampshire, United States. It is a bimonthly magazine devoted to New England travel, home, food and features. With a paid circulation of 317,000 and a total readership of nearly 2 million, it is published by Yankee Publishing Incorporated (YPI), one of the few remaining family-owned and independent magazine publishers in the United States. YPI also owns the oldest continuously produced periodical in the US, the Old Farmer's Almanac, which it purchased in 1939. In 2013, YPI acquired McLean Communications, publisher of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Business Review. It is a member of the City and Regional Magazine Association.

The Yankee motorcycle is a motorcycle which was produced in Schenectady, New York by the Yankee Motor Company in the 1970s. This company was started by John Taylor, a long-time resident of that area.

The motorcycle used an air-cooled two-stroke engine, designed by Eduard Giró that was produced by the Ossa firm in Barcelona, Spain. The engine was a unique combination of two Ossa cylinders, that produced a twin-cylinder engine of near 500 cc capacity. The Yankee frame, designed with help from Dick Mann, and running gear were produced in the US, and the entire motorcycle was assembled in the Yankee plant on Campbell Avenue in Schenectady.