yell

Y4E1L1L1
/jɛl/

verb

To shout; holler; make a loud sound with the voice, especially to express intense emotions such as anger or excitement.

“He yelled directions to the party from the car.”

Less commonScrabble 7

Meanings

yell1

verbyell (third-person singular simple present yells, present participle yelling, simple past and past participle yelled)

present singular third person yells · participle present yelling · participle past yelled · past yelled

  1. intransitiveTo shout; holler; make a loud sound with the voice, especially to express intense emotions such as anger or excitement.

    Synonyms: call, cry, holler, shout

  2. transitiveTo convey by shouting.

    He yelled directions to the party from the car.

  3. informalusuallyTo tell someone off, to scold or rebuke, typically in a loud and angry manner.

    If I come home late again, my dad is gonna yell at me.

    3 more examples

    They sent another email yelling at us to get our reports in on time. (or) They sent another email yelling about how we had to get our reports in on time.

    Nobody likes to receive an email yelling 'ASAP' right in the subject line.

    2020 August 12, Nils van Dam, Dado Van Peteghem, Metasystems: How trust can change the world, Die Keure Publishing, →ISBN

    that uncle sent some … email yelling about how changing the name of Fort Bragg was outrageous

    2023 November 10, "TalkThirtyToMe", Instagram post
nounyell (plural yells)

plural yells

  1. A phrase to be shouted.

    After the dinner a general reception was held in the spacious parlors of the hotel during which the occasion was very much enlivened with the old college songs and old college yells, which transported us all in mind and feelings[…]

    1912, The Michigan Alumnus, volume 18, page 152

yell2

adjectiveyell (not comparable)
  1. Ulsternot comparabledry (of cow)

Yell3

proper noun
  1. The second-largest island in the Shetland Islands council area, Scotland.

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo shout; holler; make a loud sound with the voice, especially to express intense emotions such as anger or excitement.

More synonyms by meaning

nouna loud utterance; often in protest or opposition

nouna loud utterance of emotion (especially when inarticulate)

Similar

verbutter or declare in a very loud voice

Similar
Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

yell · verb, noun

  1. Proto-Germanic*gellaną
  2. Old Englishġiellan
  3. Middle Englishȝellen
  4. Englishyell

From Middle English ȝellen, yellen, from Old English ġiellan, from Proto-Germanic *gellaną. Cognate with Saterland Frisian gälje (“to yell”), Dutch gillen (“to yell”), German Low German gellen (“to yell”), German gellen (“to yell”).

Full word history & related roots →

yell · adjective

  1. Scotsyeld“ceasing to give milk”
  2. Englishyell

Borrowed from Scots yeld (“ceasing to give milk”).

Full word history & related roots →

Yell · proper noun

  1. Proto-Celtic*yalom“clearing”
  2. EnglishYell

The name of the Shetland Island is from Pictish, cognate with Welsh iâl (“pastureland”), ultimately from Proto-Celtic *yalom (“clearing”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek βοάω
  • βοάω (boáō)shout (verb)
Arabic صَاحَ
  • صَاحَ (ṣāḥa)shout (verb)
Bulgarian викам, крещя
  • викам (vikam)shout (verb)
  • крещя (kreštja)shout (verb)
  • вик (vik)a shout
  • крясък (krjasăk)a shout
Chinese Mandarin 叫喊, 叫
  • 叫喊 (jiàohǎn)shout (verb)
  • 叫 (jiào)shout (verb)
Czech řvát, ječet
  • řvátshout (verb)
  • ječetshout (verb)
Danish råbe, skrige
  • råbeshout (verb)
  • skrigeshout (verb)
Dutch schreeuwen
  • schreeuwenshout (verb)
Esperanto kriegi, insulti
  • kriegishout (verb)
  • insultito scold by yelling
  • kriegoa slogan to be shouted
Finnish huutaa, rähjätä
  • huutaashout (verb)
  • rähjätäto scold by yelling
  • räyhätäto scold by yelling
  • huutoa shout
French hurler, gueuler
  • hurlershout (verb)
  • gueulershout (verb)
German schreien
  • schreienshout (verb)
Greek ωρύομαι, ουρλιάζω
  • ωρύομαι (orýomai)shout (verb)
  • ουρλιάζω (ourliázo)shout (verb)
  • κραυγάζω (kravgázo)shout (verb)
  • σκούζω (skoúzo)shout (verb)
  • φωνάζω (fonázo)shout (verb)
Hebrew צָרַח
  • צָרַח (tsaráḥ)shout (verb)
Hindi चिल्लाना
  • चिल्लाना (cillānā)shout (verb)
Hungarian ordít, kiáltozik
  • ordítshout (verb)
  • kiáltozikshout (verb)
Icelandic hrópa, öskra
  • hrópashout (verb)
  • öskrashout (verb)
  • galashout (verb)
Irish liú
  • liúa shout
Italian urlare, gridare
  • urlareshout (verb)
  • gridareshout (verb)
  • strillareshout (verb)
  • sbraitareshout (verb)
Japanese 叫ぶ
  • 叫ぶ (sakebu)shout (verb)
Korean 소리치다, 외치다
  • 소리치다 (sorichida)shout (verb)
  • 외치다 (oechida)shout (verb)
Latin clāmō
  • clāmōshout (verb)
Māori pararē, hāparangi
  • pararēshout (verb)
  • hāparangishout (verb)
  • tīwahashout (verb)
  • hāmamashout (verb)
  • auareshout (verb)
Norwegian rope, skrike
  • ropeshout (verb)
  • skrikeshout (verb)
Polish krzyczeć
  • krzyczećshout (verb)
Portuguese gritar
  • gritarshout (verb)
Romanian urla, țipa
  • urlashout (verb)
  • țipashout (verb)
  • strigashout (verb)
Russian крича́ть, ора́ть
  • крича́ть (kričátʹ)shout (verb)
  • ора́ть (orátʹ)shout (verb)
  • вопи́ть (vopítʹ)shout (verb)
Scottish Gaelic sgal
  • sgalshout (verb)
Spanish gritar, vociferar
  • gritarshout (verb)
  • vociferarshout (verb)
  • vocearshout (verb)
  • gritonearshout (verb)
  • exclamarshout (verb)
  • huchearshout (verb)
  • gritoa shout
  • vociferacióna shout
  • gritoneoa shout
  • voceoa shout
Thai ตะโกน
  • ตะโกน (dtà-goon)shout (verb)
Turkish bağırmak
  • bağırmakshout (verb)
Ukrainian крича́ти, вереща́ти
  • крича́ти (kryčáty)shout (verb)
  • вереща́ти (vereščáty)shout (verb)
  • крик (kryk)a shout
  • ве́реск (véresk)a shout
Urdu چلانا
  • چلانا (cillānā)shout (verb)
Vietnamese la hét
  • la hétshout (verb)

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with yell

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

yell. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yell

MLA

“yell.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yell. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yell,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yell.

Source: yell on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.