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Yank

Yank

1 8.8
A person from the northern United States, especially during the Civil War
  • noun
  • /jæŋk/
  • Archaic
translation icon : soldado de la Unión
  • As a history enthusiast, I enjoy learning about how Yanks and Confederates viewed each other during the conflict.
  • Billy Yank
  • Yank and Johnny Reb

Examples

  • The term Yank was used to describe soldiers fighting for the Union during the American Civil War.

  • You know who the last Yank was to die before the Krauts surrendered?

  • Did you ask her if she looks upon you as a Billy Yank enemy?

  • I guess for the Yanks it would be a gas station.

  • Three years before the yanks came into the war.

  • Over there, over there send the word, send the word over there that the yanks are coming...

  • Asking a senior officer to share his quarters... and with a noncommissioned Yank, no less.

  • I know what you Yanks are like, always bragging about your women.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Jake had nothing against America—he'd married a Yank, after all—but he'd often said he was no more suited to the place than a kangaroo was to Manhattan.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • During the Civil War, many young men from the northern states were known as Yanks.

Synonyms

Northerner
vsYank
8 3.5

A person who comes from or lives in the north of a country

is specifically the historical US Civil War term for people from northern states
Yankee
vsYank
  • US
1 5.8

A person from the northern United States, often from New England

is used mainly as a historical Civil War term for people from northern states

Idioms

1 8.7

Tease someone to make them react

Surface Forms

Yank singular
Yanks plural

Etymology

The word Yank was used during the American Civil War to mean a person from the northern states. Northerners were often called Yankees, so historically Yank referred to a 'northerner' or a 'Union soldier'.