What does yahoo mean?
Yahoo is chiefly an informal, disparaging noun for a rude, loud, or badly behaved person. It is typically used after an action has already shown someone to be discourteous, aggressive, or uncouth, and naming that person a yahoo adds contempt rather than neutrality. The word can also be an exclamation of exuberant joy, as in “Yahoo!,” and a rare verb meaning to cry out in triumph. Its best-known literary history comes from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, where the name denoted brutish, ill-conditioned humanlike creatures in a satirical scene. From that invention, yahoo developed into a general label for a loutish person. The modern noun is blunt and potentially insulting, so it suits informal speech more readily than formal writing. The exclamation may sound playful or deliberately old-fashioned. Because its ordinary meaning is tied to bad manners, yahoo is stronger and more derogatory than a neutral description such as “an unpleasant person.”
A rude, loud, or badly behaved person. In its historical literary sense, it denotes one of the brutish humanlike creatures in Gulliver's Travels.
"The landlord refused to tolerate a yahoo who insulted every guest."
The modern sense is informal and derogatory; the literary sense is restricted to discussions of Gulliver's Travels.
An exclamation expressing exuberant joy, excitement, or triumph.
"Yahoo! We reached the coast before the storm arrived."
It can sound playful or intentionally boisterous, and sometimes deliberately old-fashioned.
To cry out in triumph or excitement, typically with the word “yahoo.”
"The children yahooed with delight when the puppets appeared."
This is a rare and mainly literary usage.
The regular plural adds -s.
"A group of yahoos crowded around the damaged gate."
The word began as Jonathan Swift's invented name for loutish creatures and later became shorthand for a rude lout.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does yahoo come from?
Jonathan Swift coined the word in the early eighteenth century for the brutish humanlike creatures portrayed in Gulliver's Travels. From that literary invention, it developed into a general noun for a rude, loutish, or ill-mannered person and later came to be used as an expression of triumph. As an English coinage, it has no well-established cognates outside its own derived forms.
Related word forms
How yahoo is actually used
The modern noun is informal, contemptuous, and potentially insulting. The exclamation may sound playful, boisterous, or deliberately old-fashioned. The verb is uncommon and literary.