yahoo English · revision 15385

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=coinage|attested=1726}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈjɑːhuː/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It was coined by Jonathan Swift in ''Gulliver's Travels'' (1726) as the name of a race of brutish creatures in human form,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(Cresswell 2021)^(MWU 2024) a made-up name probably meant to suggest disgust.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A Yahoo, one of Swift's brutish creatures, ruled by the intelligent horses called Houyhnhnms: 1726.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Soon yahoo was used for a coarse person or lout,^(Cresswell 2021) and in modern use, the OED notes, often for an uncultivated person, a philistine or hooligan;^(Etymonline) Merriam-Webster dates this to 1773.^(MWU 2024) In Australia the Yahoo is a hairy man-like monster supposed to live in the east of the country, from 1842, perhaps a different word.^(Cresswell 2021)^(OED 1989) The exclamation ''yahoo!'', of excitement, is from 1976,^(OED 1989)^(NODE 1998) and the internet search engine was so called from 1994.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1726 – the Yahoos of Swift.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1773 – a lout (Merriam-Webster).^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1842 – the Australian Yahoo.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1976 – yahoo! (exclamation).^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A crude, coarse or brutish person; a [[lout]] or [[philistine]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Interjection===

+ # An exclamation of excitement or delight.^(OED 1989)^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[yahooism]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Houyhnhnm]]

+ * [[Lilliputian]]

+ * [[brobdingnagian]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}