yuck
Noun pluralyucks (some meanings)
Pluralyucks (some meanings)
- 1Said to express disgust, usually at a bad taste or smell.
Yuck, who left this fish out on the counter all day?
Yuck! The whole carton of cream had curdled.
Oppositeyum
Note
This is probably an imitation of the sound of disgust. It first appeared in the 1960s. It has a Dutch cousin in jakkes ("disgusting") and an older Scots relative in yeuk, a word for anything that disgusts. It usually stands alone or opens a sentence, set off by a comma or an exclamation point. Its natural opposite is yum, said of a taste that pleases.
- 2Something regarded as disgusting.
The drain was clogged with a month's worth of yuck.
She scraped the gray yuck out of the fridge and tossed it.
Similargunk, muck, goo, slime, crud
Note
As a noun, the exclamation names the stuff itself, and it behaves as a mass noun: it has no plural and usually takes the. The New Yorker in 2003 has a speaker telling a guest to peel "the yuck" off an orange, then adding, "I hate the yuck." It is a word for when the exact name of the stuff doesn't matter and only the reaction does.
- 3To express disgust, especially by saying "yuck."
Half the table yucked when the strange dish arrived.
Guests will yuck at anything they find unfamiliar.
Similargrimace
- 4To vomit, or to gag.
The sour stench nearly made her yuck on the spot.
He yucked twice before he could reach the bathroom.
Similarretch, gag, vomit, heave
Note
Disgust carried past the word and into the body: where the verb of saying "yuck" voices revulsion, this one acts it out. It works on its own (and again she yucked) and also takes an object, on the pattern of throw up: you can yuck your guts up, or yuck something over your clothes. The past is regular, yucked.
- 5
- 6The sound produced by a hearty, whole-hearted laugh.
A hearty yuck escaped him before he could cover his mouth.
The room filled with one great yuck after the punchline.
Similarguffaw, laugh, chortle, hoot
Note
Nothing to do with disgust: this yuck began as theatrical slang of the 1930s, probably imitating the laugh itself. It also appears as yuk, a spelling that keeps it visually apart from the exclamation. It names a hearty laugh rather than a polite chuckle, the kind a good joke pulls out of a whole room.
- 7To laugh, or to share jokes.
The old friends yucked together long into the night.
They yuck and tease one another at every reunion.
Similarlaugh, joke, banter, chuckle
Note
The verb that comes from the hearty-laugh noun and shares its stage origin. It is often followed by up, and it can even take laughs as its object: "the laughs we yucked," in Joseph George Hayes's A Map of the Harbor Islands (2006). It pairs easily with other laughter words, as in yucked and laughed or yucked and tittered. Let the context tell you it means amusement, not disgust.
- 8To yank or grab.
He yucked the stuck drawer open with both hands.
Grab the cord and yuck it firmly to start the engine.
Similaryank, jerk, pull, tug, wrench
Note
A third, unrelated yuck, and the oldest one recorded here. The English Dialect Society's Publications of 1886 has "Briggs yucked the mare about," and Punch still uses it in 1945 for a load lifted and "yucked into a truck." The action is a sharp jerk rather than a steady pull. Words like about, away or into often follow to show where the thing went.
- 9A second-year cadet at the West Point military academy; a sophomore there.
As a yuck, he finally earned a handful of weekend privileges.
The yucks gathered for morning formation in the cold.
Note
West Point slang for a second-year cadet, the informal partner of the standard term yearling. It is an American military word tied to the academy's own class ranks. Outside that setting it needs explaining: to most listeners, a yuck is still an exclamation of disgust, so a writer using the cadet sense should make the context clear.
- 10Alternative form of yawk, in Multicultural London English.
Note
A spelling of yawk, which is itself rare slang from Multicultural London English meaning "to shoot," or to make an impact as if by firing. The same word works as an interjection imitating a gunshot. The verb can be used with or without an object. It has no connection to the disgusted or laughing yucks; it is a separate word that happens to share the spelling.
- 11A coarse substitute for the word "fuck," used across its various senses.
He didn't give a single yuck about what anyone thought.
What the yuck were they thinking, leaving the gate open?
Note
A minced oath: yuck stands in for the stronger word, keeping its grammar while softening its sound. It turns up in mother yucking and, most usefully, in yuck up, meaning "to botch": you sure yucked this up. That phrasal verb takes an object, which sets it apart from the laughing verb, also often followed by up. An object usually signals the botching sense.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of yuck apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origins
Perhaps imitative, this word first appeared in the 1960s. It is akin to Dutch jakkes ("disgusting"), and compare Scots yeuk ("anything that disgusts") and Middle English yuke ("an itchy skin disease").
From 1930s theatrical slang, probably imitative, with the variant form yuk.