Adjectives That Start With Y | List & Examples
There aren’t that many adjectives (words that qualify a noun) that start with Y. Some of the more common adjectives that start with Y are:
- Youthful
- Yummy
- Yawning
- Yeasty
- Yucky
- Yearlong
- Yearly
- Yellow
- Young
- Younger
Positive adjectives that start with Y
Here’s a list of adjectives that start with Y with a positive connotation (there aren’t many).
- Yare: Quick; agile; ready for action
- Yielding: Flexible; giving way under pressure; accommodating
- Youthful: Energetic; fresh; characteristic of youth
- Yummy: Delicious; very tasty
My youthful, yielding self-control was no match for the yummy desserts on offer!
Negative adjectives that start with Y
Here’s a list of adjectives that start with a Y with a negative connotation (again, there aren’t many). When applied to a person, these would almost always be considered insults.
- Yappy: Noisy; prone to incessant, high-pitched barking
- Yawning: Gaping wide open; suggestive of boredom or emptiness
- Yeasty: Frothy; immature; frivolous (can also mean lively, but often pejorative)
- Yellow-bellied: Cowardly; lacking courage
- Yucky: Disgusting; unpleasant; gross
The behavior of the yappy dog led Ximena to believe that there had been a yawning gap in its training.
Neutral adjectives that start with Y
There are a few more neutral adjectives that start with Y. The following adjectives usually have neither a positive nor negative connotation when describing something.
- Yardwide: Measuring a yard in width; very broad
- Yawnful: Inducing yawns; boring
- Yearlong: Lasting for a full year
- Yearly: Happening once a year; annual
- Year-round: Continuing throughout the entire year
- Yeastlike: Resembling or characteristic of yeast
- Yellow: The color between green and orange in the spectrum
- Yogic: Relating to yoga or its practices
- Yogurt-like: Resembling or having the qualities of yogurt
- Yonder: Situated at some distance; over there (archaic)
- Young: Having lived only a short time; not yet mature
- Younger: Comparative of young; of less age
- Youngish: Somewhat young; fairly youthful
- Youthward: Directed toward youth or the young
- Yugoslav: Relating to the former country of Yugoslavia
After her yearlong quest, Zoe even felt younger than before, presumably because of her enhanced fitness.
“Yonder peasant, who is he?” —from the traditional carol “Good King Wenceslas.”
Adjectives with other letters
If you’re looking for adjectives that start with another letter, you can visit one of our other articles.
Frequently asked questions about adjectives with Y
- What are some adjectives starting with Y to describe a person?
-
Some adjectives that start with Y to describe a person include:
- Youthful
- Yappy
- Yellow-bellied
- Yogic
- Young
- Younger
- Youngish
- Yugoslav
You can always hunt for the right word by asking the QuillBot free AI chat for suggestions, synonyms, or meanings.
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Marshall, T. (2025, September 03). Adjectives That Start With Y | List & Examples. Quillbot. Retrieved October 20, 2025, from https://quillbot.com/blog/word-finder/adjectives-that-start-with-y/
