yon
/jɒn/US/jɑn/
yon determiner: distant, but within sight; (that thing) just over there. Also the acronym of yarn over needle.
Determiner
yon
- Distant, but within sight; (that thing) just over there.
- He went to climb yon hill.
- Read thy lot in yon celestial sign.1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
Adverb
yon (not comparable)
Pronoun
yon
- That one or those over there.
- As soon as old Andrew came home, his wife and he, as was natural, instantly began to converse on the events of the preceding night; and in the course of their conversation Andrew said, "Gudeness be about us' Jean, was not yon an awfu' speech o' our bairn's to young Jock Allanson last night?"1828, James Hogg, Mary Burnet
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Yon
Yon (plural Yons)
- A male given name.
- A surname.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Yon
Yon (plural Yons)
- A surname from French.
Proper noun (3) capitalized: Yon
Yon (plural Yons)
- A surname from Korean.
Also used as
yon is also the acronym of yarn over needle.
Examples of yon in a sentence
- "[…] Yet first let me close yonder shutters; the slanting rain is beating through the sash.1856, Herman Melville, The Lightning Rod Man:
- "Do my eyes deceive me, or is yon object a Puddin'?" he cried.1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 158:
Forms of yon
| plural | Yons |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Yeon |
| alternative form | Yŏn |
| alternative form | Yong |
Origin of yon
From Middle English yon, from Old English ġeon, from Proto-Germanic *jainaz. Cognate with Dutch geen and German jener.
From French Yon, from the Latin personal name Ionis. Ionis was also named as a daughter of Ἴναχος (Ínakhos), see Ἰώ (Iṓ).
From Korean 연(延) (Yeon), 연(燕) (Yeon), 연(連) (Yeon), or 연(淵) (Yeon).
Words formed from yon
Words that rhyme with yon
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- foregone
- mon
- qanon
- scone
- swan
- thereupon
- tick on
- wan
- a ton
- chignon
- con
- electron
- got it going on
- jupon
- ron
- soupçon
- thereon
- Toulon
- whereupon
- Yonne
- -hon
- -plon
- agone
- begone
- bent on
- build on
- build upon
- c'mon
- catch oneself on
- chron
- cock on
- Comecon
- conn
- cop oneself on
- Gabon
- garçon
- hither and yon
- hon
- macron
- microraion
- mont
- Perpignan
- phon
- pon
- raion
- shone
- sine qua non
- sine quibus non
Questions about yon
- What does yon mean?
- Yon means distant, but within sight; (that thing) just over there.
- How do you use yon in a sentence?
- "[…] Yet first let me close yonder shutters; the slanting rain is beating through the sash.
- What part of speech is yon?
- Yon can be a determiner, an adverb, a pronoun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce yon?
- Yon is pronounced /jɒn/ (UK).
Words near yon in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: yon (page history and authors); Yon (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-yon.wav.
Cite this entry: “yon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/yon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.