yacht pronunciation oxford dictionary

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Definition of yacht

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Definition of yacht  (Entry 2 of 2)

intransitive verb

Examples of yacht in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'yacht.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

obsolete Dutch jaght , from Middle Low German jacht , short for jachtschip , literally, hunting ship

1557, in the meaning defined above

1836, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing yacht

Articles related to yacht.

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Dictionary Entries Near yacht

yacht chair

Cite this Entry

“Yacht.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yacht. Accessed 22 Aug. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of yacht.

Kids Definition of yacht  (Entry 2 of 2)

from obsolete Dutch jaght (now jacht ), short for jachtschip, literally, "hunting ship"

More from Merriam-Webster on yacht

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for yacht

Nglish: Translation of yacht for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of yacht for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about yacht

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superyacht noun

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What does the noun superyacht mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun superyacht . See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

How common is the noun superyacht ?

How is the noun superyacht pronounced?

British english, u.s. english, where does the noun superyacht come from.

Earliest known use

The earliest known use of the noun superyacht is in the 1910s.

OED's earliest evidence for superyacht is from 1912, in Belfast News-letter .

superyacht is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: super- prefix , yacht n.

Nearby entries

• supervolcano, n. 1925–
• supervoltage, n. 1898–
• supervolute, adj. 1832–
• supervolutive, adj. 1841–50
• superwaif, n. 1972–
• superweak, adj. 1959–
• superweed, n. 1939–
• superweening, adj. 1862
• superwoman, adj. & n. 1857–
• super-writing, n. 1654–1853
• superyacht, n. 1912–
• supet, n. a1382
• supeter, n. 1611–78
• supinate, v. 1822–
• supinated, adj. 1828–
• supination, n. 1657–
• supinatoextensor, adj. 1872–
• supinator, n. 1615–
• supine, n. c1450–
• supine, adj. & adv. ?a1425–
• supinely, adv. 1604–

Meaning & use

The super-Dreadnought has its companion in the super-motor-car and the super-yacht .

Launched at Clydebank, yesterday, the 1,600-ton superyacht Nahlin, which they have built to the order of Lady Yule... Intended for long cruises, the Nahlin will be fitted with a special navigation outfit.

Puerto José Banus is a convenient 35 miles from Gibraltar and, although expensive, is worth a visit if only to see the opulent superyachts moored against the west quay.

The superyacht Dilbar stretches one-and-a-half football fields in length. It has two helipads, berths for more than 130 people and a 25-meter swimming pool that itself can accommodate another superyacht.

• steam-yacht 1812– With reference to locomotion by steam-power, and in names of vehicles and vessels propelled by steam, as steam barge , steam bus , steam-ferry , steam …
• skimmer 1844– Applied to vessels, spec. to a particular type of yacht. Hence also, a hydroplane, hydrofoil, hovercraft, or other vessel that has little or no…
• schooner-yacht 1876– Vessels of various classes resembling a schooner in build or rig.
• cruiser 1879– A yacht constructed or adapted for cruising, as distinguished from a ‘racer’; also, a motor-vessel designed for pleasure cruises on the sea, or…
• keel 1883– A yacht built with a permanent keel instead of a centre-board.
• skimming-dish 1884– U.S. A shallow yacht-built type of boat used on the coast of Florida.
• cutter-yacht 1885– A yacht built and rigged like a cutter.
• half-rater 1889– A small racing yacht of a design originally having a rating ( rating , n.¹ 4) of 0.5. Also as a modifier, designating such a vessel.
• bulb-keel 1893– A keel of a yacht having a cigar-shaped attachment which in section presents a bulb-like appearance; also elliptical a yacht having such an…
• keel-boat 1893– A yacht having a keel instead of a centre-board.
• forty 1894– A yacht of forty tons burden.
• forty-tonner 1895– = forty , adj. B.3.
• one-designer 1897– A one-design yacht or boat (see one-design , n. ); (also) a person who sails this type of craft.
• raceabout 1897– A sloop-rigged racing yacht similar to a knockabout ( knockabout , n. B.4), but typically having a smaller keel and larger sail yards.
• forty-footer 1902– A forty-foot yacht.
• sonder 1907– A class of small racing yacht; a yacht of this class.
• star 1911– Sailing (originally U.S. ). Frequently with capital initial. A type of sloop-rigged open keelboat designed to be sailed by two people and used for…
• superyacht 1912– An exceptionally large or powerful yacht; (now) esp. one that is extravagantly luxurious and used for cruising.
• tonnage-cheater 1912– Term applied to a vessel built so as to cheat the rules for tonnage measurement, esp. a yacht with a ‘dog's-leg’ stern-post, by which its length was…
• scow 1929– U.S. A small flat-bottomed racing yacht.
• tabloid 1930– In full tabloid cruiser . A small cruising yacht.
• Yngling 1969– A type or class of racing keelboat, designed to sail with a two- or three-person crew. Frequently attributive .
• maxi yacht 1974– Originally and chiefly Australian and New Zealand . In full maxi boat , maxi yacht . A racing yacht of between 15 and 20 metres in length (the largest…

Pronunciation

• ð th ee
• ɬ rhingy ll

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence <petal> /ˈpɛtl/ but <petally> /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

• a trap, bath
• ɑː start, palm, bath
• ɔː thought, force
• ᵻ (/ɪ/-/ə/)
• ᵿ (/ʊ/-/ə/)

Other symbols

• The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
• The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
• Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here .

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in <bitter>

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence <petal> /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but <petally> /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

• i fleece, happ y
• æ trap, bath
• ɑ lot, palm, cloth, thought
• ɔ cloth, thought
• ɔr north, force
• ə strut, comm a
• ər nurse, lett er
• ɛ(ə)r square
• æ̃ sal on

Simple Text Respell

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

• arr carry (British only)
• a(ng) gratin
• o lot (British only)
• orr sorry (British only)
• o(ng) salon

superyacht typically occurs about 0.6 times per million words in modern written English.

superyacht is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency of superyacht, n. , 2017–2023

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the corpus.

Entry history for superyacht, n.

superyacht, n. was first published in December 2022.

superyacht, n. was last modified in July 2023.

oed.com is a living text, updated every three months. Modifications may include:

• further revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
• new senses, phrases, and quotations.

Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into superyacht, n. in July 2023.

Please submit your feedback for superyacht, n.

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Citation details

Factsheet for superyacht, n., browse entry.

• 1.1 Etymology
• 1.2 Pronunciation
• 1.3.1 Derived terms
• 1.3.2 Translations
• 1.4.1 Translations
• 1.5 Anagrams
• 2.1 Etymology
• 2.2 Pronunciation
• 2.4 Further reading
• 3.1 Etymology
• 3.2 Pronunciation
• 3.4 References
• 3.5 Further reading
• 4.1 Etymology
• 5.1 Etymology
• 5.3 References
• 6.1 Etymology
• 6.3 References
• 7.1 Alternative forms
• 7.2 Etymology
• 7.3.1 Declension
• 7.3.2 Derived terms
• 7.4 Further reading

Circa 1557; variant of yaught , earlier yeaghe ( “ light, fast-sailing ship ” ) , from Dutch jacht ( “ yacht; hunt ” ) , in older spelling jaght(e) , short for jaghtschip ( “ light sailing vessel, fast pirate ship ” , literally “ pursuit ship ” ) , compound of jacht and schip ( “ ship ” ) .

In the 16th century the Dutch built light, fast ships to chase the ships of pirates and smugglers from the coast. The ship was introduced to England in 1660 when the Dutch East India Company presented one to King Charles II, who used it as a pleasure boat, after which it was copied by British shipbuilders as a pleasure craft for wealthy gentlemen.

Pronunciation

• ( UK ) enPR : yŏt , IPA ( key ) : /jɒt/
• ( US ) enPR : yät , IPA ( key ) : /jɑːt/ , /jɑt/

• Rhymes: -ɒt

yacht ( plural yachts )

• 1897 December (indicated as 1898 ), Winston Churchill , chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode , New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company ; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd. , →OCLC : The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.
• 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers , chapter VI, in The Younger Set , New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company , →OCLC : “I don’t mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera,   [ … ] , the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts ,   [ … ] , the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis, the jewelled animals whose moral code is the code of the barnyard—!"

Derived terms

• motor yacht , motoryacht , MY
• sailing yacht , steam yacht , SY
• yacht person

Translations

yacht ( third-person singular simple present yachts , present participle yachting , simple past and past participle yachted )

• ( intransitive ) To sail , voyage , or race in a yacht .

• Cathy , tachy , tachy- , yatch

Borrowed from English yacht , from Dutch jacht .

• IPA ( key ) : /jɔt/ , /jot/ , ( Canada ) /jat/

yacht   m ( plural yachts )

Further reading

• “ yacht ”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [ Digitized Treasury of the French Language ] , 2012 .

Unadapted borrowing from English yacht .

• IPA ( key ) : /ˈjɔt/ [ 1 ]
• Rhymes: -ɔt

yacht   m ( invariable )

• the letter Y in the Italian spelling alphabet
• ^ yacht in Luciano Canepari , Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
• yacht in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line , Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Borrowed from English yacht .

yacht   ? ( plural yachts )

• ( Jersey ) yacht

Norwegian Bokmål

From Dutch jacht , via English yacht .

yacht   m ( definite singular yachten , indefinite plural yachter , definite plural yachtene )

• “yacht” in The Bokmål Dictionary .

Norwegian Nynorsk

yacht   m ( definite singular yachten , indefinite plural yachtar , definite plural yachtane )

• “yacht” in The Nynorsk Dictionary .

Alternative forms

yacht   c

• yacht in Svenska Akademiens ordlista ( SAOL )
• yacht in Svensk ordbok ( SO )
• yacht in Svenska Akademiens ordbok ( SAOB )
• yacht in Svenskt nautiskt lexikon (1920)

• English terms derived from Dutch
• English 1-syllable words
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• Rhymes:English/ɒt/1 syllable
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Definition of 'yacht'

yacht in American English

Yacht in british english, examples of 'yacht' in a sentence yacht, trends of yacht.

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• motor yacht
• royal yacht
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Definition of sand yacht noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

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