Yooper Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

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Yooper

noun

Yoop·​er ˈyü-pər : a native or resident of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan —used as a nickname

Did you know?

The word Yooper comes from the common nickname of Michigan's Upper Peninsula—the "U.P."—and the etymology requires the same follow-up question that a challenging joke does: "Get it?" If you're not there yet, try saying them both out loud: Yooper, U.P. Yoopers have been saying both out loud now for about 40 years, but it's only in recent years that those beyond the U.P. and its geographical neighbors have begun to encounter Yooper in use. Yoopers refer to people who live in the Lower Peninsula as trolls (they live "under" the Mackinac Bridge, after all), but that nickname is still at this point too much of a regionalism to qualify for entry in our dictionaries.

Word History

Etymology

yoop- (from the abbreviation UP) + -er entry 2

First Known Use

1975, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler The first known use of Yooper was in 1975 See more words from the same year

Rhymes for Yooper

• grouper
• hooper
• keuper
• looper
• stupor
• super
• trooper
• paratrooper

See All Rhymes for Yooper

Browse Nearby Words

yoo-hoo Yooper Yorba Linda See all Nearby Words

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Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP

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“Yooper.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Yooper. Accessed 31 Dec. 2025.

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