What the heck does ‘yeet’ mean?
Merriam and others don’t simply yeet a new word into the dictionary when they first encounter it. They wait for “sustained, meaningful, widespread use”.
Yeet is a juicy, expressive slang word. It can function as a verb, noun or exclamation, and it’s sometimes accompanied by a dance move. It expresses excitement, enthusiasm, victory or surprise. “When you yeet something, you’re not worried about how it lands” (Merriam).
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Sarah Cottrell, a mother of two tween boys, sought “to crack a secret language code of tweens that is driving some of us absolutely crazy… WHAT THE HELL DOES YEET MEAN?... a source of unending frustration for [parents] everywhere”.
The first time she asked her one son, he just rolled his eyes. She was “definitely in pre-teen territory and no one can make any sudden movements or – God forbid – ask any questions”. But when she consulted the Internet, she learned that no one really knows – “in what situations does one say yeet and it makes sense? None, if you’re a mom, according to my tween son”.
So, Merriam-Webster has yeeted the word into its dictionary
Merriam has noted that, “When a new word starts making the rounds, we don’t just yeet it into the dictionary the first time we encounter it. Instead, we wait for the word to meet our criteria for entry: sustained, meaningful, widespread use”. In September 2022, Merriam did just that. Yeet! From its “celebratory beginnings, yeet mostly hummed along as an obscure slang word until 2014 when a very 21st-century thing happened. Namely, the word got linked to videos” (Merriam).
Yeet as a dance move
Know Your Meme describes the dance move as “dipping one’s shoulder in rhythmic steps with both hands out in front and knees bent as if the performer is riding a bicycle” (cited in Ritzen). The move’s first known appearance was in February 2014, uploaded to YouTube by ‘Milik Fullilove’. Others then uploaded their own takes and memes, gathering bazillions of views. Eventually, yeet became a thing.
A versatile word
One definition on Urban Dictionary, which features hundreds of pages of yeet entries, called yeet a “beautiful and commonly misused word” (cited in Ritzen). Its meaning has evolved. As an exclamation, it can express excitement, happiness, nervousness, victory, an adrenaline rush, or a battle cry or ‘focus shout’ while throwing or hitting something. It can mean any violent motion, such as a whip, or a motion associated with violent camera shake or photo blur. In science fiction, warp speed could lead to an interstellar yeet.
Yeet is sometimes used instead of yes or yeah – “if you want people to know you’re fun and hip” (cited in Ritzen). It can be a cry of expected victory, such as when dunking a basketball, or when throwing, discarding or completing something – mostly for comedic effect. Yeet power usually involves more than one person. Someone may yell YEET! at the top of their lungs to bystanders.
Here are some usage examples:
Alex finishes his soda and proceeds to yeet the empty can into a trash bin.
Dude 1: Aw man it’s the last track meet! I’m so pumped! I’m just gonna YEET down that track!
Dude 2: Geez I’m nervous. I hope I don’t screw this up…
Dude 1: You just gotta get into the feel of it dude! Just get that yeet flowing!
Dude 2: Yeah… you’re right! yeet… YEET!
One of the above-mentioned dudes, who just won his race: YEEEEEEEET!Your reaction when a parent buys you some fresh Crocs and you’re thrilled: “LOOK AT MY SPARKLY CROCS, YEETTTTTT!”
To yeet, or not to yeet: that is the question...
YEET that ball down the field!
Live. Laugh. Yeet.1
These four examples are from Merriam:
Watch A Wooden Plank Yeet Itself Off A Truck, Through A Windshield And Somehow Not Kill Anyone – headline, Jalopnik.com, 22 June 2021
All The Things You’ll Have To Yeet Money At As An Adult & How To Not Be A Fool About It – headline, Pedestrian.tv, 21 July 2021
Today’s word is: “Yeet,” yelled by the Ramsay students section whenever a player makes a free throw. Its meaning? No one knows – not coaches, not players, not cheerleaders, not fans. – “Final Four Notes,” Birmingham (Alabama) News, 3 March 2007
LMFAO @lewd. thats some batman shit. YEET YEET! – Twitter user @MzJetson, 16 February 2008
According to Merriam, there’s another yeet that “appears to have been largely ignored for more than 500 years”. It cites an Oxford English Dictionary entry for yeet: “To address (a person) by the pronoun ye instead of thou” (cited in Merriam).
Yeet expresses a situation’s energy well. Another Urban Dictionary user noted that “to yeet is to give your full power and soul to an action you’re doing”.
According to Cottrell, the joke is on her tween son – now that she’s “cracked this code… I’m going [to] yeet my way to the grocery store while scream-singing Beyoncé the way a cool, badass mom does. YEET!… With any luck, that should have cleared things up. Now, yeet off into the world, with your newfound enlightenment”. Yeet! YEET!
About Johan
If you’re a client, you’ll know my name (Johan Emerson Grobler) and e-mail addresses (ink@johangrobler.com, jegrobler1@gmail.com). While I trained as a copywriter, I’ve been line editing, copyediting and proofreading academic papers and theses since 2007, and have helped authors to successfully submit papers to at least 91 journals.
Almost everything that has value in the world is the result of writing. Great writing can be the difference between approval or rejection, the presence or absence of competitive advantage, a sale or no sale, resources allocated or denied, and a cum laude or a summa cum laude. I seek to assemble hard-working sentences that can be inhaled like ice cream.
For more, visit johangrobler.com
This is my regular missive about all things English.
Much pleasure awaits…
Sources
Sarah Cottrell: My kids think I’m a nerd because I’m still trying to figure out what ‘yeet’ means.
Merriam-Webster: What does ‘yeet’ mean?
Urban Dictionary: Yeet.
Urban Dictionary: Yeet power.
Top Kek Meme Shop: Yeet is a versatile word that can be used as an exclamation, a verb, or even a noun. 19 November 2018.
FindTechAnswers: Who created ya yeet? 20 July 2022.
Liz Sommer: Yeet, yeeted, yeet on, & yote. 8 November 2018.
Stacey Ritzen: What does ‘yeet’ mean, and how did it become a meme? 13 September 2018, updated 12 July 2022.
1 Credits: Three users of Urban Dictionary, cited in Top Kek Meme Shop. Mccnanana, cited in Urban Dictionary. Jay / @JayWalkr, cited in Ritzen. volt / @Go_On_Volt, cited in Ritzen. JBS / @brandolambo42, cited in Ritzen. Jessica O’Donnell / @heckyessica, cited in Ritzen.
