English Online Dictionary. What means yea? What does yea mean?
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English ye, ȝea, ya, ȝa, from Old English ġēa, iā (“yea, yes”), from Proto-West Germanic *jā.
Pronunciation
- enPR: yā, IPA(key): /jeɪ/
- (obsolete) enPR: yī, IPA(key): /jiː/
- Rhymes: -eɪ
- Homophones: yay, Ye
Adverb
yea (not comparable)
- (dated) Yes, indeed.
- 1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum
- Yea, and the prophet of the heav'nly lyre, / Great Solomon sings in the English quire […]
- 1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum
- (dated) Thus, so (now often accompanied by a hand gesture by way of measurement).
Synonyms
- (yes): aye, yep, yes, yup, yeah, yigh (when contradicting)
Antonyms
- nay
- no
Conjunction
yea
- (archaic) Or even, or more like, nay. Introduces a stronger and more appropriate expression than the preceding one.
-
- (with modern spelling) [N]ow such a life ungodly, without a care of doing the will of the Lord (though they profess him in their mouths, yea though they believe and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea have knowledge of the Scriptures) yet if they live ungodly, they deny God, and therefore shall be denied
-
Interjection
yea
- (in some dialects of American English, including Southern, Western, and African American Vernacular) Yeah, right, yes.
Noun
yea (plural yeas)
- An affirmative vote, usually but not always spoken
- Antonym: nay
Etymology 2
From yeah.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈjɛ(ə)/, /ˈjæ.ə/
- Rhymes: -ɛə
Interjection
yea
- (nonstandard, proscribed) Alternative spelling of yeah
Etymology 3
See yay.
Pronunciation
- enPR: yā, IPA(key): /jeɪ/
Interjection
yea
- Misspelling of yay.
References
Anagrams
- Aye, aye, yae
Yola
Adverb
yea
- Alternative form of yee
References
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 114