Yabang. [yah´bang] Pride or more like false bravado. Someone who is boastful is ma+yabang but some just say yabang! when someone is full of himself.

Yakap. [yah´kap] A hug. Add in at the end and it becomes to hug.

Yagit. [yah git´] Means poor, dirt poor. Most Pinoy children live below the poverty line. So many abandoned kids turn to petty crime—and worse, graduate to more serious offenses. This brings them into prison with hardened criminals.
One Christmas, my husband’s La Salle class brought us to a Don Bosco facility for street children. The kids sang for us and the “graduates” catered our dinner. We also met their resident house mother, a former bank senior vice president who gave up everything for the children.

Yaman. [yah´man] Wealth. The mayaman are the haves—the guys who should help the Don Bosco facility in Muntinlupa, Golden Acres, the free wards of the Philippine General Hospital or Gawad Kalinga. In fairness to the rich, many of them continue to do so.

Yamot. [yah mot´] To be irked, upset at. When we were little, my Lola used to tell my sisters and me, Yamot ako sa inyo at masyado kayong maramot. Translation: I’m upset at you because you are selfish. (Hopefully, we’ve outgrown this.)

Yari na. [yah ree nah´] It has been done, completed. A done deal. A damit na yari is an off-the-rack dress. In Pinoy slang, however, yari can mean being in trouble, or being sunk.

Yawa. [yah´wah] The devil.

Yan! [yun] This means, that’s it! One can either point at the object or exclaim that something has been accomplished.

Yantok! [yan tok´] A kind of tree, but I’ve heard someone say it like geeze Louise! that probably means nothing.

Yapos. [ya pos´] A hug or to hug if it is yapusin. See yakap.

Yaya. [yah´yah] A maid or a nanny. Sometimes, even more—like a confidant. Years ago, privileged Filipino children had Chinese amahs or nannies—or even nursemaids if their mothers could not breastfeed them. I knew someone whose mother died delivering him, so his grandmother got him an amah straight from the mainland. Now it is the other way around. Rich Chinese kids have Filipina nannies.

Yelo. [yeh´loh] From the Spanish to mean ice. Mais con yelo is a favorite treat made of crushed corn and ice, milk and sugar. Of course we don’t have winters in the Philippines. The closest we’ve had are few and far between hail storms that happen in the Baguio environs. The coldest it has gotten there is a cool 6C which is still far from the freezing point.

Yema. [yeh´mah] You know the egg yolk that seniors throw away because of cholesterol? They are caramelized into little balls and served as dessert.

Yero. [yeh´roh] Iron, but mostly  means the metal sheets used as roofs. When Imelda Marcos saw from her jet how ugly and rusty they were, she almost decreed that everyone change to tiled roofs.  She also had Hollywood-type wooden facades made to cover the squatter areas found on the way to Malacanang.

‘Yoko. [yoh´koh] The contraction of ayaw ko to mean I don’t want it or forget it. Sometimes said with nga to mean almost, no way!

Yon na nga! [yon nah nga´] That’s it! That’s what teachers want to say often.

‘Yon na nga, eh. [yon nah nga´ eh] Add an “eh” and the whole meaning changes: that’s what I mean or told you.

Yosi. [yoh´see] The first syllable si and the last syllable yo from sigarilyo is transposed: yosi.

Yoyo [yoh´yoh] . They say it was a 16th century Filipino hunting or self-defense device that has become a toy popular the world over. I wonder who got the patent.

Yugyug. [yug yug´] To shake pretty well. When conventional dancing steps gave way to modern dance, our elders said dancing has been reduced to yugyugan.

Yuko. [yuh koh´] To bend down. The word itself sounds difficult todo—bending—especially when old!

Yupi. [yuh pee´] This means dented or crushed. When she’s describing the brand new car you just gave your wife.

Yurak. [yuh rak’] Hurt or wounded feelings. Doesn’t the word sound exactly what it means?

To find other definitions, please press the first letter of the word: