Meanings
- CommonwealthIrelandUKpluralplural onlyslangA long time (especially a longer time than expected); ages
Haven’t seen him in yonks!
5 more examples
I’ve been a teacher for yonks–I should really try another career.
This egg is taking yonks to boil.
I rang singer Julie Driscoll […] She said: "I haven't heard from you for yonks[…]"
1968 August 27, Christopher Ward, “The Christopher Ward Page”, in Daily Mirror, London, page 7Alas, the comics for that age group have nearly all picture stories today—and of course the ones for younger readers have been that way for yonks (sorry, years).
1975 January 28, Bill Stewart, “Comic Cuts”, in Evening Chronicle, number 30393, Newcastle, page 7It's what Miss Brunskill calls ‘our little backwater’. We're more or less fixtures there and have been for yonks.
1982, Alan Bennett, “A Woman of No Importance”, in The Complete Talking Heads, Picador, published 2010, →ISBN, page 14
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Unknown. First seen in print around 1960. One theory is that it comes from donkey's ears; another is that it is an abbreviation of years, months and weeks.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with yonks
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
yonks. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yonks
“yonks.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yonks. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yonks,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yonks.
Source: yonks on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.