yip

Etymology

It is imitative.^[2][3][4][5] It is first recorded as inherited from Middle English yippen (“to peep, chirp”), used of young birds,^[6][2][7] which the Middle English Dictionary calls probably imitative.^[6] Etymonline and Barnhart take the American verb as possibly from the dialect sense "to cheep" (early 19th century), which continues the Middle English verb.^[8][7] Dictionary.com takes the Middle English word as perhaps an alteration of yilpe, yelp,^[9] and Partridge calls yip both echoic and a thinner form of yap.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cheep, as a young bird: about 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum, which glosses it with Latin pululo.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

The bird sense survived only in dialect.^[2][11] The modern sense, to give a sharp cry or yelp, of a dog or a person, is American and recorded from 1907, in Kate Douglas Wiggin's New Chronicles of Rebecca;^[2][3] Barnhart dates it to 1903,^[7] and Etymonline to 1891.^[8] It soon extended to shouting and complaining,^[2][3] and since 1927 the verb could take the words cried out as its object.^[2] The noun, a short high-pitched cry, followed in 1911.^[2][7] In American slang yip also meant noisy talk, as in hold yer yip (1914), and the verb to talk in a petulant way.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1440 – to cheep, as a young bird (now dialect).^[2][6]
• 1907 – to give a sharp cry or yelp, of a dog or a person; to complain.^[2][3] Barnhart dates the sense to 1903, and Etymonline to 1891.^[7][8]
• 1911 – noun, a short high-pitched cry.^[2][7]
• 1914 – noun, in American slang, talk, noise.^[12]
• 1927 – transitive, to cry out words.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of a dog, to bark sharply, quickly and often repeatedly; to yelp: The puppy yipped at the mail carrier.^[3][13][14]
2. To give a short sharp cry like a dog's, or to complain loudly.^[3][2]
3. To cry out words in a short sharp voice.^[3][2]
4. (obsolete or dialect) To cheep, as a young bird.^[2][11]

Noun

1. A short, sharp, high-pitched cry or bark: a yip of delight.^[3][13][2]

Related words

• yap
• yelp
• yep

Usage notes

A separate yip, "yes", recorded from 1906, is a variant of yep.^[2]

References

1. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
6. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster