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Yankee

Yankee definition

Yan·kee (yaŋ′kē)

noun

☆ a person born or living in New England
☆
1. a person born or living in a Northern State; Northerner
2. a Union soldier in the Civil War
☆ a person born or living in the U.S.

Etymology: < ? Du Jan Kees (taken as pl.) < Jan, John + Kees, dial. form of kaas, cheese; orig. (Jan Kaas) used as disparaging nickname for a Hollander, later for Dutch freebooter; applied by colonial Dutch in New York to English settlers in Connecticut

adjective

of, like, or characteristic of the Yankees

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.