Yankee | Nickname - Britannica

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What is the origin of the term Yankee?

The origin of the term Yankee is unknown, but it is possibly derived from the Dutch Janke, a diminutive of Jan (John). It was used by the British in the 1750s as an insult to the colonists.

Who is considered a Yankee?

A Yankee is a nickname for a native or citizen of the United States, or more specifically, of the New England states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut).

What characteristics are associated with Yankees?

Yankees have come to be associated with characteristics including shrewdness, thrift, ingenuity, and conservatism.

How was the term Yankee used during the American Civil War?

During the American Civil War, the term Yankee was used by Southerners to refer to Federal soldiers and other Northerners.

Yankee, a nickname for a native or citizen of the United States or, more narrowly, of the New England states of the United States (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut). The term Yankee was used by the British as early as the 1750s, often in conjunction with the words “doodle” or “dandy,” as an insult for the colonists.

The origin of the term is unknown. The Oxford English Dictionary says that “perhaps the most plausible conjecture” is that it comes from the Dutch Janke, the diminutive of Jan (John). British soldiers are recorded using it as a term of derision in 1775. Mitford Mathews (A Dictionary of Americanism on Historical Principles [1951]) traced its rise, pointing out that no evidence of use of the word by New Englanders before the Battle of Lexington (1775) has been found.

Yankee has come to be associated with such characteristics as shrewdness, thrift, ingenuity, and conservatism. It was applied to Federal soldiers and other Northerners by Southerners during the American Civil War (1861–65) and afterward.

Many fanciful derivations have been advanced. A mythical tribe of Indigenous people in Massachusetts, the Yankos (“Invincibles”), were said to have been defeated by brave New Englanders who then somehow assumed their name. Virginians countered with the story that the word means “coward” or “slave” and is derived from the Cherokee (Tsalagi) word eankke; no such word exists in the Cherokee language. These and many other theories about the origin of Yankee and of Yankee Doodle are reviewed and are all rejected in a comprehensive study conducted for the Librarian of Congress by Oscar G. Sonneck (1873–1928): Report on “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “Hail Columbia,” “America,” “Yankee Doodle” (1909).

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Tracy Grant.