yank

Etymology

The verb is of unknown origin,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} first recorded in Scotland in 1822.^[8][3][2] Partridge wondered whether it was akin to the dialect word yerk, a variant of jerk.^[9] The noun is formed from the verb.^[2][10] Barnhart points out that the earliest noun (1818) meant a blow, nearly the opposite of the verb's pulling, and that the noun's sense "a pull" appears only decades later: either the record is incomplete or the early noun and verb have different sources.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To pull or jerk vigorously, intransitive: 1822, in H. Ainslie's A Pilgrimage to the Land of Burns.^[2][8][11] The noun, a sudden sharp blow, is recorded earlier, in 1818, in J. Hogg's Brownie of Bodsbeck.^[2][12][11]

Semantic evolution

In Scots the verb first meant to move actively or push on, and to pull quickly; in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire dialect it meant to lash with the end of a whip, and in Kent to quarrel.^[13] The transitive sense, to pull something with a jerk, is first recorded in Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms (1848),^[2][12] and the word became chiefly colloquial and American.^[10][7] The noun followed in America in the sense "a sudden pull": Etymonline dates it to 1856, Barnhart to 1885 and the OED to 1888.^[3][8][2] In the United States the verb also came to mean to withdraw or cancel a show or an advertisement (1940),^[2] and more generally to remove someone or something abruptly.^[11]

Timeline

• 1818 – noun, a sudden sharp blow (Scottish).^[2][12][11]
• 1822 – verb, to pull or jerk vigorously (Scottish).^[2][8][3]
• 1848 – to pull something with a sudden movement.^[2][12]
• 1856 – noun, a sudden pull or jerk, in American English.^[3] The OED's first example is from 1888.^[2]
• 1940 – to withdraw a show or an advertisement.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pull with a sudden, vigorous movement; to jerk: She yanked the plug out of the wall.^[5][11][2]
2. To pull hard at something: He yanked at the stuck drawer.^[2][10]
3. To remove or take someone or something away abruptly: The film was yanked from cinemas after a week.^[11][2]

Noun

1. A sudden sharp pull; a tug.^[5][11][2]
2. (Scotland) A sudden hard blow.^[11][2][13]

Related words

• jerk

Usage notes

Yank with a capital, a colloquial and often disparaging word for an American, is a separate word, a shortening of Yankee recorded from 1778.^{[2][11][3][6]}

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)