Meanings
alternative out the ying yang · alternative up the yin yang · alternative up the ying yang · alternative up the ying-yang
- colloquialidiomaticmildlyvulgarSynonym of out the wazoo.
We've got bananas up the yin-yang this week. Does anyone know how to make banana bread?
1 more example
...the currently fashionable barbarism of plus used as a conjunction; and the reference to Ethel Merman as "The Merm"; and the misuse of a favorite slang expression ("... these Kander and Ebb songs did their duty up the yin-yang (sic)").
1977, Educational Theatre Journal, volume 29, number 2, University and College Theatre Association.; American Theatre Association, page 280Synonyms: out the wazoo
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseSynonym of out the wazoo.
Origin
It has been suggested to derive from the meaning of the phrase "up the yin-yang", where "yin-yang", a reference to a circular Taoist symbol, is used euphemistically for the human anus; the suggestion, therefore, is that one has so much of some thing that some of that thing is to be found in one's colon, or otherwise beyond one's anus. The meaning of "up the yin-yang", then, is actually "to an excessive degree".
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
up the yin-yang. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/up%20the%20yin-yang
“up the yin-yang.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/up%20the%20yin-yang. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “up the yin-yang,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/up%20the%20yin-yang.
Source: up the yin-yang on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.