Skip to main content
Yank

Yank

6 8.8
A person from the northern United States, especially during the Civil War
  • noun
  • /jæŋk/
  • Archaic
: 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

Yankee
vsYank
  • US
46 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
Northerner
vsYank
12 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

Idioms

13 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'.