Etymologically
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yummy

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Pronunciation

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
  • 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