Y-fronts see under Y (n).
Y or y /wī/
noun- 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)
- A YMCA or YWCA hostel (N American informal)
- 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 yt 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.
abbrev- Yen (Japanese currency)
- Yotta-
Y
symbol- (as a medieval Roman numeral) 150
- (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)
- 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)