Words that start with Y
There are 450 words that start with y in this list, most common first. Filter by letters or length.
No words match that filter.
The most-used words that start with y, and what they mean
These are the 12 that come up most often in written English, so they are the ones worth knowing first.
- you
- nounThe name of the Latin-script letter U/u.
- years
- noun(colloquial, hyperbolic) A very long time.
- york
- verb(slang) To vomit.
- year
- nounThe length of a year as marked by a calendar, 365 or 366 days in the Gregorian calendar; a calendar year.
- yet
- adverbIn negative or interrogative use, often with an expectation or potential of something happening in the future.
- young
- adjectiveIn the early part of growth or life; born not long ago.
- yes
- nounAn affirmative expression; an answer that shows agreement or acceptance.
- youth
- noun(uncountable) The part of life following childhood; the period of existence preceding maturity or age; the whole early part of life, from childhood, or…
- yellow
- nounThe color of sunflower petals and lemons; the color obtained by mixing green and red light, or by subtracting blue from white light; the color evoked by light of…
- younger
- nounOne who is younger than another.
- yield
- verbTo give as a result or outcome; to produce or render.
- yard
- nounA small, usually uncultivated area adjoining or (now especially) within the precincts of a house or other building.
Nouns, verbs and adjectives
Of the 450 words in this list, 378 can be used as a noun, including you, years, york, year, yet. Plenty of words do more than one job: state is a noun, a verb and an adjective depending on how you use it, which is why these numbers add up to more than the list itself.
How this list is built
The words come from the Datamuse language API, then get cleaned up, because the raw output is not much use on its own. Each word is checked against an English dictionary, with a frequency floor for anything not in it, so ordinary inflections survive while noise does not. Roman numerals, fragments and vowel-less abbreviations are stripped out.
What is left is ranked by how often each word actually appears in written English. That ordering is the point: it puts the words you might actually want at the top. The full method is on how we build these.
Common questions
How many words that start with y are there?
This list holds 450, filtered to real dictionary words and ranked by how common they are. English has more if you count obscure and archaic ones, but they are little use to anybody.
Can a word starting with Y be a noun?
Yes. 378 of the 450 words on this list can be used as a noun. The breakdown above shows how many work as verbs, adjectives and adverbs too.
How are the words ordered?
By how often each word appears in written English, most common first, so the useful ones are at the top rather than buried under rarities. See how we build these.
Can I search inside the list?
Yes. The filter box narrows the list as you type, and where a list mixes lengths there are buttons to show only words of a given length.