-y¹ /-i/

Forming adjectives with the senses ‘characterized by’, ‘full of’, ‘having the quality of’ or ‘inclined to’, as in icy, sandy, slangy, shiny, etc

y- /i-/

1. Derived from OE pfx ge- (ȝe-), orig a preposition meaning ‘with, together’, seen in OE nouns and adjectives, eg gefēra companion, getheaht counsel, gelīc alike, and in verbs such as gethēodan to join together, gerinnan to congeal, but even in OE times often used with no very definite meaning
2. In primitive Germanic gi- imparted a perfective meaning to past participles
3. In OE (as ge-) and in ME (as ȝe-, y-, i-, etc) it was prefixed to past participles indiscriminately, and it was used freely in this way by Spenser and other archaizers

-y² /-i/

1. Forming nouns denoting: (1) a diminutive, or a term of affection, as in doggy or daddy
2. (2) a person or thing having a certain specified characteristic, as in fatty

-y³ /-i/

Forming nouns denoting a quality, state, action or entity, as in fury, jealousy, subsidy, etc

y or y.

1. Yard
2. Year
3. Yocto-

Y or y /wī/

1. The twenty-fifth letter in the modern English alphabet, twenty-second in the Roman, derived, as are also U and V, from Greek upsilon (Υ, υ)
2. A YMCA or YWCA hostel (N American informal)
3. Anything shaped like the letter Y

—Y is used to represent a consonant sound as in year (y = OE Ȝ; ME Ȝ, yogh), and the vowel and diphthongal sounds, /i/, as in hymn and folly; /ī/, as in my and pyre; /ə/, as in satyr; /û/, as in myrrh; it is also used in digraphs, such as oy instead of oi when word-final, eg in toy. Early printers used y as a substitute for thorn (), which their founts lacked; hence it came to be so used in manuscripts and inscriptions, as in yat or y^t for that, or ye for the; cf ye²

Yˈ-alloy noun

An aluminium-based alloy of the duralumin type, containing copper 4%, magnesium 1.5%, silicon 0.7%, nickel 2%, iron 0.6%, and titanium 0.2%

Yˈ-fronts plural noun

Underpants for men or boys, with a front seamed opening in the shape of an inverted Y

Yˈ-level noun

A type of engineers' level whose essential characteristic is the support of the telescope, namely, Y-shaped rests in which it may be rotated or reversed end-for-end (also called wyeˈ-level)

Yˈ-moth noun

Any of a genus of destructive noctuid moths with a silvery Y-shaped mark on the forewings

Yˈ-track noun

A short track laid at right angles to a railway-line, connected with it by two switches resembling a Y, used for reversing engines

Y or Y.

1. Yen (Japanese currency)
2. Yotta-

Y

1. (as a medieval Roman numeral) 150
2. (also y or y) a variable, unknown or yet to be ascertained quantity or factor, used as distinct from and in addition to X (or x or x) (mathematics, etc)
3. Yttrium (chem)

yˈ-axis noun (mathematics)

In a graph, the vertical axis along which the y-coordinate is plotted. Cf x-axis, z-axis

Yˈ-chromosome noun

One of a pair of chromosomes associated with sex-determination in mammals (the other being the X-chromosome)

• desacralising
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• desalinate
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