yea

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ye, ȝea, ya, ȝa, from Old English ġēa, iā (“yea, yes”), from Proto-West Germanic *jā, from Proto-Germanic *ja (“yes, thus, so”), from Proto-Indo-European *yē (“already”). Cognate with Scots yea, ya (“yes, yea, indeed, so”), Saterland Frisian ja, jee (“yes”), West Frisian ja (“yes”), Dutch ja (“yes”), German ja (“yes, yea”), Danish ja (“yes, yea”), Swedish ja, jo (“yes, well, indeed”), Icelandic já (“yes”), Latin iam (“now, already”), Italian già (“now, already”), Spanish ya (“now, already”), Polish już (“already”).

Pronunciation

enPR: yā, IPA^(key): /jeɪ/
(obsolete) enPR: yī, IPA^(key): /jiː/[1]
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -eɪ
Homophones: yay, Ye

Adverb

yea (not comparable)

(dated) Yes, indeed.
- 1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum
  Yea, and the prophet of the heav'nly lyre, / Great Solomon sings in the English quire […]
- 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
  Let no man say that the Devil is not a cruel tyrant. He may give his folk some scrapings of unhallowed pleasure, but he will exact tithes, yea, of anise and cummin, in return, and there is aye the reckoning to pay at the hinder end.
Thus, so (now often accompanied by a hand gesture by way of measurement).
The pony was yea high.

Synonyms

(yes): aye, yep, yes, yup, yeah, yigh (when contradicting)

Antonyms

nay
no

Conjunction

yea

(archaic) Or even, or more like, nay. Introduces a stronger and more appropriate expression than the preceding one.
- 1604, Jeremy Corderoy, A Short Dialogve, wherein is Proved, that No Man can be Saved without Good VVorkes, 2nd edition, Oxford: Printed by Ioseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crowne, by Simon Waterson, OCLC 55185654, page 40:
  [N]ow ſuch a liue vngodly, vvithout a care of doing the wil of the Lord (though they profeſſe him in their mouths, yea though they beleeue and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea haue knowledge of the Scripturs) yet if they liue vngodly, they deny God, and therefore ſhal be denied, […]
  - (with modern spelling) [N]ow such a life ungodly, without a care of doing the will of the Lord (though they profess him in their mouths, yea though they believe and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea have knowledge of the Scriptures) yet if they live ungodly, they deny God, and therefore shall be denied
- c. 1633, The Flea, by John Donne
  O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
  Where we almost, yea, more than married are.

Interjection

yea

(in some dialects of American English, including Southern, Western, and African American Vernacular) Yeah, right, yes.

Noun

yea (plural yeas)

An affirmative vote, usually but not always spoken
- 2009, January 6, Still Broken After All These Years‎:
  Recently senators could fax in their yeas or nays to the committee chairman.
Antonym: nay

Etymology 2

From yeah.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈjɛ(ə)/, /ˈjæ.ə/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (US, interjection) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛə

Interjection

yea

(nonstandard, proscribed) Alternative spelling of yeah

Etymology 3

See yay.

Pronunciation

enPR: yā, IPA^(key): /jeɪ/

Interjection

yea

Misspelling of yay.

References

Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)‎, volume I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 11.75, page 339.

Anagrams

Aye, aye, yae

Yola

Adverb

yea

Alternative form of yee
- 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, line 21:
  Ye pace——yea, we mai zei,
  The peace——yes, we may say

References

Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 114

[1] Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)‎, volume I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 11.75, page 339.