yea

Y4E1A1
/jeɪ/obsolete/jiː/Early, Modern/jɛː//ˈjɛ(ə)/

adverb

Yes, indeed.

Opposite
CommonScrabble 6

Meanings

yea1

adverbyea (not comparable)
  1. datednot comparableYes, indeed.

    1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum Yea, and the prophet of the heav'nly lyre, / Great Solomon sings in the English quire […]

    2 more examples

    Let no man say that the Devil is not a cruel tyrant. He may give his folk some scrapings of unhallowed pleasure, but he will exact tithes, yea, of anise and cummin, in return, and there is aye the reckoning to pay at the hinder end.

    1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

    Something of the curate's aptitude for abasement came to him at that moment, and he wept, yea, holding with both hands to Miss Gimblet, in his grief he wept aloud, while Miss Gimblet wiped his countenance with her handkerchief and wept a little, too.

    1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 120

    Synonyms: aye, yep, yes, yup, yeah, yigh

  2. Midwestern USdatednot comparableThus, so (now often accompanied by a hand gesture by way of measurement).

    This kid... What'd he look like? / Well, he was about yea high. You know, tiny like. I didn't get a good look at him, though. He was back in the kitchen.

    2016, Stranger Things, season 1, episode 2, spoken by Hopper, Earl (David Harbour, David Dwyer)
conjunction
  1. archaicdatedOr even, or more like, nay. Introduces a stronger and more appropriate expression than the preceding one.

    O stay, three lives in one flea spare, Where we almost, yea, more than married are.

    c. 1633, John Donne, The Flea
    1 more example

    [N]ow ſuch a liue vngodly, vvithout a care of doing the wil of the Lord (though they profeſſe him in their mouths, yea though they beleeue and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea haue knowledge of the Scripturs) yet if they liue vngodly, they deny God, and therefore ſhal be denied, […] (with modern spelling) [N]ow such a life ungodly, without a care of doing the will of the Lord (though they profess him in their mouths, yea though they believe and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea have knowledge of the Scriptures) yet if they live ungodly, they deny God, and therefore shall be denied

    1604, Jeremy Corderoy, A Short Dialogve, wherein is Proved, that No Man can be Saved without Good VVorkes, 2nd edition, Oxford: Printed by Ioseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crowne, by Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 40
interjection
  1. Southern USUSWesterndatedAfrican-American VernacularYeah, right, yes.
nounyea (plural yeas)

plural yeas

  1. datedAn affirmative vote, usually but not always spoken

    Recently senators could fax in their yeas or nays to the committee chairman.

    2009 January 6, “Still Broken After All These Years”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Jan 2018

    Synonyms: aye · Antonyms: nay

yea2

interjection
  1. alternativedatednonstandardproscribedAlternative spelling of yeah.

yea3

interjection
  1. datedmisspellingMisspelling of yay.

Yea4

proper noun
  1. A town in the Shire of Murrindindi, central eastern Victoria, Australia.

Synonyms & antonyms

adverbYes, indeed.

nounAn affirmative vote, usually but not always spoken

Similar
Opposite
Opposite

More synonyms by meaning

nounyes

Opposite

adverbnot only so, but

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

yea · adverb, conjunction, interjection, noun

  1. Proto-West Germanic*jā
  2. Old Englishġēa
  3. Middle Englishye
  4. Englishyea

From Middle English ye, ȝea, ya, ȝa, from Old English ġēa, iā (“yea, yes”), from Proto-West Germanic *jā. The modern pronunciation shows an irregular development of Early Modern English /ɛː/ to /eɪ/ in the standard language, probably from association with the antonym nay.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with yea

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

yea. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yea

MLA

“yea.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yea. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yea,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yea.

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