Yes

How to spell yes

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce yes

What does yes mean?

1. interjectionUsed to give an affirmative response, expressing agreement, consent, or confirmation.
2. nounAn affirmative answer or vote, counted as a positive response.

Yes in a sentence

• interjection

  The manager said yes to the budget request without hesitation.

• noun

  The committee recorded a firm yes from every member present.

• interjection

  A clear yes on the form confirms that you accept the terms.

• noun

  Her email was a simple yes to the partnership proposal.

Where does yes come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word comes from Old English gēse or gīse, an affirmative that was originally a contraction of the phrase gēa swā, meaning roughly 'may it be so' or 'yes, so be it'. The first part, gēa, was the plain Old English word for 'yea', a general 'yes', while swā meant 'so', the same word that survives in modern 'so'. Over the centuries the fuller emphatic form collapsed into the short word we use today, and the spelling settled on the simple three letters 'yes' in early Modern English. For a long time English actually distinguished gēa and gēse by how the question was framed, with the stronger form reserved for answering a negative question, a subtlety that has since faded. Because the word is so short, ancient, and entirely phonetic, it is one of the most stable spellings in the language.

How the word is built

• yes (a single unanalysable word; from Old English gēse, itself a contraction of gēa swā 'may it be so')