Meanings
yed1
present singular third person yeds · participle present yedding · participle past yedded · past yedded · alternative yedd
- UKdialectalintransitiveTo magnify greatly in narration; exaggerate a tale; fib.
yed2
yed3
present singular third person yeds · participle present yedding · participle past yedded · past yedded · alternative yerd · alternative eard · alternative yedd
- UKdialectalTo burrow underground, as a rabbit or mole; also said of miners.
- UKdialectalTo be associated with a place or locality.
yed4
plural yeds · alternative yedd
- datedslanglifestyleA self-reference to the editor of a periodical; a substitution for the editor's name or signature.
All of which sprang (crawled?) from the fertile skull of yed, no doubt it is something in my Radius.
1952 February, Fred J. Robinson, “Arose By Any Other Name”, in Straight Up, volume 1, number 1, page 12 more examples
Fandom is a wonderful thing. We used to live in Florida ten years ago. Across the street lived a lad two years older than yed who had the most wonderful collection of comic books...all of a stf nature. At the ripe old age of eight yed was swept to Georgia and the lad with the comics was never heard from. Since entering fandom we thought much of him and wondered if he were not a slan. This morning we learned that he is a member of NFFF and TFSC. Naturally we got a letter off to him.
1950 December, Lee Hoffman, “Chaos”, in Quandry, number 5, archived from the original on 09 Oct 2015, page 3In preparation for this momentous occasion yed has been browsing past issues of this sterling journal, and it has come to our attention that previous articles by yhos have been devoted largely to bemoaning the multitude of technical problems encountered in production -- the difficulties of duplication, the miseries of mimeography.
1976 November, Lee Hoffman, “Editorial”, in Science-Fiction Five-Yearly, number 6, page 4
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
yed · verb
- Old Englishġieddian“to speak formally, discuss, speak with alliteration, recite, sing”
- Middle Englishyedden
- Englishyed
From Middle English yedden, from Old English ġieddian (“to speak formally, discuss, speak with alliteration, recite, sing”), from ġiedd (“song, poem, saying, proverb, riddle, speech, story, tale, narrative, account, reckoning, reason”).
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →yed · noun
- Old Englishġiedd“song, poem, saying, proverb, riddle, speech, story, tale, narrative, account, reckoning, reason”
- Middle Englishyed
- Englishyed
From Middle English yed, from Old English ġiedd (“song, poem, saying, proverb, riddle, speech, story, tale, narrative, account, reckoning, reason”).
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →yed · verb, noun
- Old Englisheardian“to live, dwell, be inhabitant, occupy”
- Middle Englisherden“to dwell, inhabit”
- Middle Englisherthen“to bury, dig”
- Englishyed
From Middle English erthen (“to bury, dig”), from erthe (“earth”). Influenced or conflated with Middle English erden (“to dwell, inhabit”), from Old English eardian (“to live, dwell, be inhabitant, occupy”). More at earth.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
yed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yed
“yed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yed. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yed,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yed.
Source: yed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.