# wye

Pronunciation: say "WY" /ˈwaɪ/

## Noun

1. A Y-shaped object or junction, especially a connection where three sections of road or railroad track come together in a Y.
   - Simple: A Y-shaped object, such as a place where three roads or train tracks meet.
   - _Engineers built a wye so locomotives could reverse direction without a turntable._
   - _The surveyor mounted his instrument on a wye level before taking readings._
2. The spoken name of the Latin-script letter Y or y.
   - Simple: The name of the letter Y, also written as a small y.
   - _The crossword clue called for a five-letter word ending in a wye._
   - _Sign painters charge extra for a letter like the wye with its angled strokes._

## Verb

3. To reverse the direction of a train by routing it through a wye.
   - Simple: To turn a train around by driving it through a Y-shaped set of tracks.
   - _The dispatcher told the crew to wye the locomotive at Millbrook._
   - _Yard workers wyed the freight train before dawn._
4. To form or shape something so that it takes the form of a wye.
   - Simple: To bend or shape something so it looks like the letter Y.
   - _Engineers wyed the duct so air could flow into two rooms at once._
   - _She wants to wye the wire to make a small antenna._

## Noun

5. A heroic figure; more generally, a man or person, in poetic usage. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A man or person, especially a brave hero in old poems.
6. A warrior or fighter, in poetic usage. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A fighter or warrior, used in old poems.
   - _The saga named every wye who had fought at the ford._
   - _No wye among them feared the coming battle._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–4** — Attested as "wi" around 1200, its origin is uncertain. It was perhaps borrowed from Old French "ui" or "gui".
**Meanings 5–6** — From Old English "wiga".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/wye (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).