Skip to content

yankee

Yankee

noun YANG-kee Rare
People & Society Nationality

Origin: Possibly from Dutch Janke (little Jan), used as a nickname for Dutch settlers in colonial America.

Also means

American

Usage Note

Yankee is used in Italian as a loanword referring to Americans, especially in informal or slightly ironic contexts. In Italian it is invariable — the plural is also yankee. It can carry a mildly dismissive or affectionate tone depending on context. As an adjective (stile yankee) it suggests brash, American-style excess.

Examples

"Quei turisti yankee erano molto rumorosi."

Natural Translation

Those Yankee tourists were very noisy.

Explore Italian by topic