yummy

Etymology

It is formed from English yum + -y,^[2][3][4] or from the reduplicated yum-yum with the same suffix.^[5][6][7] The exclamation yum, recorded from the 1870s, imitates the smacking of the lips in anticipation of food.^[8][3][2][9] Etymonline describes the adjective as baby talk.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an exclamation of delight at food: Green's Dictionary of Slang quotes Yummy yummy! plenty belly full from a Scottish newspaper of 1863.^[11] The OED, Merriam-Webster and Etymonline date the word to 1899, the OED with the sense "delicious, delectable", also as an interjection.^[8][5][10]

Semantic evolution

The Shorter Oxford dates the interjection to the late 19th century and the adjective, used of food, to the mid 20th century.^[3] It was soon applied to people, things and experiences as well: a music-hall song of 1891 calls a girl the "yummiest of totties".^[11] The figurative sense "very attractive, desirable" is now as common as the literal one.^[3][5][7] From the late 1960s American slang used a yummy as a noun for an attractive young person,^[11] and in 1959 it was even recorded as a verb for having sex.^[11] The compound yummy mummy, an attractive young mother, is recorded from 1993,^[8] and was used especially of celebrities photographed with their children.^[9]

Timeline

• 1863 – Yummy yummy!, an exclamation of delight at food.^[11]
• 1891 – of a person, very attractive (yummiest of totties).^[11]
• 1899 – delicious; also as an interjection.^[8][5][10]
• 1959 – as a verb, to have sex (US slang).^[11]
• 1967–8 – noun, an attractive young man (US slang).^[11]
• 1970 – noun, an attractive teenage girl.^[11]
• 1993 – yummy mummy, an attractive young mother.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (informal) Delicious; very pleasant to eat: a yummy plate of pancakes.^[7][5][3]
2. (informal) Very attractive or pleasing; delightful: yummy autumn colours.^[7][5][3]

Interjection

1. An exclamation of pleasure, especially at the prospect of good food; yum.^[7][3]

Noun

1. (slang) An attractive young person.^[11]

Word family

• yumminess

Related words

• yum
• yum-yum

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com