What does yawed mean?
Yawed is the past tense and past participle of yaw, a verb describing a turn away from a straight course. In its most characteristic use, it refers to a ship, aircraft, vehicle, or other object rotating about a vertical axis, so that its heading changes. The movement is distinct from rolling, which is a side-to-side rotation about a longitudinal axis, and from pitching, which raises or lowers the front or rear. Yawed can also be used more broadly and figuratively for veering or turning sharply away from an intended direction. For example, a vessel yawed to port while avoiding another ship, and a writer may say that a story or conversation yawed in an unexpected direction. The word is uncommon in ordinary descriptions of a person’s simple head turn, where turned is normally preferable. Because yawed is an inflected form rather than a separate dictionary word, its tense depends on the surrounding clause: “the boat yawed” is simple past, while “the boat has yawed” is present perfect. In technical and literary use, yawed remains precise and evocative, especially for the abrupt rotation or veering implied by its nautical associations.
verb (past tense and past participle)Turned or swung away from a straight course, especially by rotating about a vertical axis. It can also be used more broadly to mean veered or deviated.
- Turned or rotated away from a straight course, especially about a vertical axis.
- Veered or deviated from an intended direction, course, or topic.
"The cargo ship yawed sharply to port as the captain steered around the approaching vessel."
"The aircraft yawed left to avoid the storm front."
"The discussion yawed toward an entirely unexpected subject."
A yawed ship has swung its bow away from its heading, while a rolling ship has tipped from side to side.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does yawed come from?
Yawed is the regular past-tense and past-participle form of yaw. The verb is recorded in Middle English, and its older ancestry is not securely established. Its nautical use for turning a vessel away from its course is a later specialization of the broader idea of turning, twisting, or swerving.
Related word forms
How yawed is actually used
The word is especially characteristic of nautical, aviation, and technical contexts, where it describes rotation about a vertical axis. It can also convey a sudden, unexpected change of direction in figurative use.
Easily confused with yawed
Yaw is the base verb; yawed is its past tense and past participle form.