Etymology

yes

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Today it means: Used to show agreement or acceptance. Full definition →

Middle English yes ← Old English ġīese ← Proto-West Germanic *wesan
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic*ja
  2. Proto-West Germanic*jā
  3. Old Englishġēa
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₁es-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*h₂wes-
  6. Proto-Germanic*wesaną
  7. Proto-West Germanic*wesan
  8. Old Englishwesan
  9. Old Englishsīe
  10. Old Englishġīese
  11. Middle Englishyes
  12. English todayyes

From Middle English yes, from Old English ġīese (“by all means, of course, yes”), derived from the same root as yea. Compare Faroese júsá (“yes, indeed, certainly”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.