yak
/jæk/
yak noun: an ox-like mammal native to the Himalayas, Mongolia, Myanmar, and Tibet with dark, long, and silky hair, a horse-like tail, and a full, bushy mane.
Noun (1)
yak (plural yak or yaks)
- An ox-like mammal native to the Himalayas, Mongolia, Myanmar, and Tibet with dark, long, and silky hair, a horse-like tail, and a full, bushy mane.
- Utilization efficiency of dietary protein in the yak differs with diet composition and feeding level, age, sex, body condition score, and animal production level (e.g., growth, lactation). Researchers reported no difference between lactating and dry cows in crude protein digestibility, although...2008, Scott R. R. Haskell, Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult: Ruminant, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 619
- Attempts are now being made, by selection, to create a new breed of yak (the Datong yak) from such crosses. Hybridization of domestic yak with local cattle, at intermediate elevations, has been practiced for generations. The hybrids inherit some of the good characteristics from each species, but...2004, Wilson G. Pond, Encyclopedia of Animal Science (Print), CRC Press, →ISBN, page 899
Verb
yak (third-person singular simple present yaks, present participle yakking, simple past and past participle yakked)
- To talk, particularly informally but persistently; to chatter or prattle.
- “You'll like Poppet. Nice dog. Wears his ears inside out. Why do dachshunds wear their ears inside out?” “I could not say, sir.” “Nor me. I've often wondered. But this won't do, Jeeves. Here we are, yakking about Jezebels and dachshunds, when we ought to be concentrating our minds […]1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC
- And in the last few days Clair's boundless capacity to yak about herself while Melissa listened had turned Chip against her, too.2001, Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections
- To vomit, usually as a result of excessive alcohol consumption.
- She'll feel better when she yaks.1998, Tim Herlihy, The Wedding Singer, spoken by Glenn Guglia (Matthew Glave)
Noun (2)
yak (countable and uncountable, plural yaks)
- A talk, particular an informal talk; chattering; gossip.
- Sluggsy said indifferently, ‘You’ll be wised up come morning. Meanwhiles, howsabout shuttin’ that dumb little hashtrap of yours? All this yak is bending my ear. I want some action.1962, Ian Fleming, chapter 9, in The Spy Who Loved Me
- The sudden head-down butt jabbed into someone’s face, is a highly effective way of putting a stop to his yack.1983, Nicolas Freeling, The Back of the North Wind, →ISBN
- A laugh.
- Would-be gags from would-be gagsters. And, nine chances out of ten, not a yak in the lot.1951, Fredric Brown, Mack Reynolds, Cartoonist
- Vomit.
Noun (3)
yak (plural yaks)
- a traditional Korean flute used in court music
Noun (4)
yak (plural yaks)
- A kayak.
- cognac.
- Quick cash, flip that, now I got big cash. Sit back, sip yak with a next piff yat.2018 November 30, “Bits” (track 10), in Original Sounds, performed by Bru-C and Window Kid
- A yakuza member.
- Yakuza, or Yaks as they are popularly known, Japan's large and tightly organized crime and illicit drug corporations.2007, Merrill Singer, Drugging the Poor: Legal and Illegal Drugs and Social Inequality, Waveland Press, →ISBN, page 191
- These days yaks make most of their money through securities fraud.2015 September 9, yakthrow, “My neighborhood Yak”, in Reddit, archived from the original on 25 Feb 2026
yak meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
yak in Hindi
- ox-like mammal
- याक yāk, चमरी गाय camrī gāy
yak in Tamil
- கவரிமா, திபெத்திய யாக் மாட்டுவகை, வெற்றுப்பேச்சு, விடாமல் பேசு
yak in Marathi
- ox-like mammal
- याक yāk
yak in Urdu
- دل لگی, گیاک, ہنسی مذاق, سرا گائے
More languagesFewer languages
- yak in Bengali
- চমরী গাই comori gai
- yak in Telugu
- జడలబర్రె jaḍalabarre
- yak in Malayalam
- യാക്ക yākka
- yak in Kannada
- ಯಾಕ್, ಯಕ್, ಯಾಕ್ಗೆ
- yak in Punjabi
- ਯਾਕ yāk
- yak in Gujarati
- યાક yāk, ચમરી ગાય camrī gāya
- yak in Odia
- ଯ଼କ୍, ଯ଼ାକ୍, ଯ଼ାକ
- yak in Sanskrit
- चमर camara
- yak in Assamese
- চুঁৱৰী পহু sũwori pohu, চুঁৱৰী গাই sũwori gai
- yak in Nepali
- याक yāk, चौरी chauri
- yak in Pashto
- يهک yhak
- yak in Tagalog
- yak
- yak in Malay
- yak
- yak in Persian
- غژگاو ġažgâv
- yak in Thai
- จามรี jaa-ma-ri
- yak in Vietnamese
- bò tây tạng
- yak in Myanmar
- စာမရီ cama.ri, အောင်း aung:
- Dzongkha
- གཡག g.yag
Examples of yak in a sentence
- Utilization efficiency of dietary protein in the yak differs with diet composition and feeding level, age, sex, body condition score, and animal production level (e.g., growth, lactation).2008, Scott R. R. Haskell, Blackwell's Five-Minute Veterinary Consult: Ruminant, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 619:
- Attempts are now being made, by selection, to create a new breed of yak (the Datong yak) from such crosses.2004, Wilson G. Pond, Encyclopedia of Animal Science (Print), CRC Press, →ISBN, page 899:
- Yaks aren't gonna be a problem around here?2023, Matthew A. Knorpp, The Killer Who Lost His Mind, Archway Publishing, →ISBN, page 191:
Forms of yak
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | yak |
| plural | yaks |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | yaks |
| present participle | yakking |
| past participle | yakked |
| past | yakked |
| alternative form | yack |
Origin of yak
Borrowed from Tibetan གཡག (g.yag). See there for more.
Apparently an onomatopoeia.
Borrowed from Korean 약 (yak).
Words formed from yak
Phrases with yak
Words that rhyme with yak
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- plaque
- whack
- slack
- Cadillac
- swack
- thwack
- pac
- shack
- bivouac
- cack
- clack
- gack
- lack
- smack
- unpack
- wrack
- aback
- flak
- hark back
- mack
- claque
- flack
- knack
- quack
- shellac
- snack
- Aach
- ack
- gak
- mac
- Meshach
- multitrack
- plack
- snacc
- wack
- akh
- alack
- awrack
- brach
- cac
- Cayman Brac
- Chiraq
- cook back
- craic
- diclofenac
- dictionary attack
- dime back
- fac
Questions about yak
- What does yak mean?
- Yak means an ox-like mammal native to the Himalayas, Mongolia, Myanmar, and Tibet with dark, long, and silky hair, a horse-like tail, and a full, bushy mane.
- What is yak in Hindi?
- Yak in Hindi is याक (yāk), चमरी गाय (camrī gāy). See Yak meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use yak in a sentence?
- Utilization efficiency of dietary protein in the yak differs with diet composition and feeding level, age, sex, body condition score, and animal production level (e.g., growth, lactation).
- What part of speech is yak?
- Yak can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce yak?
- Yak is pronounced /jæk/.
- What is the plural of yak?
- The plural of yak is yak.
Words near yak in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: yak (page history and authors); yak (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); yak (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); yak (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); yak (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); يهک (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-yak.ogg.
Cite this entry: “yak.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/yak. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.