yea

Etymology 1

From Middle English ye, ȝea, ya, ȝa, from Old English ġēa, iā (“yea, yes”), from Proto-West Germanic *jā, from Proto-Germanic *ja (“yes, thus, so”), from Proto-Indo-European *yē (“already”). Cognate with Scots yea, ya (“yes, yea, indeed, so”), Saterland Frisian ja, jee (“yes”), West Frisian ja (“yes”), Dutch ja (“yes”), German ja (“yes, yea”), Danish ja (“yes, yea”), Swedish ja, jo (“yes, well, indeed”), Icelandic já (“yes”), Latin iam (“now, already”), Italian già (“now, already”), Spanish ya (“now, already”), Polish już (“already”).

adv

1. (dated) Yes, indeed.
   1597–1598, Joseph Hall, Virgidemiarum Yea, and the prophet of the heav'nly lyre, / Great Solomon sings in the English quire […]
   Let no man say that the Devil is not a cruel tyrant. He may give his folk some scrapings of unhallowed pleasure, but he will exact tithes, yea, of anise and cummin, in return, and there is aye the reckoning to pay at the hinder end. 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
2. Thus, so (now often accompanied by a hand gesture by way of measurement).
   The pony was yea high.

conj

1. (archaic) Or even, or more like, nay. Introduces a stronger and more appropriate expression than the preceding one.
   [N]ow ſuch a liue vngodly, vvithout a care of doing the wil of the Lord (though they profeſſe him in their mouths, yea though they beleeue and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea haue knowledge of the Scripturs) yet if they liue vngodly, they deny God, and therefore ſhal be denied, […] (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 1604, Jeremy Corderoy, A Short Dialogve, wherein is Proved, that No Man can be Saved without Good VVorkes, 2nd edition, Oxford: Printed by Ioseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crowne, by Simon Waterson, →OCLC, page 40
   O stay, three lives in one flea spare, Where we almost, yea, more than married are. c. 1633, John Donne, The Flea

intj

1. (in some dialects of American English, including Southern, Western, and African American Vernacular) Yeah, right, yes.

noun

1. An affirmative vote, usually but not always spoken
   Recently senators could fax in their yeas or nays to the committee chairman. January 6 2009, “Still Broken After All These Years”, in New York Times

Etymology 2

From yeah.

intj

1. (nonstandard, proscribed) Alternative spelling of yeah

Etymology 3

See yay.

intj

1. Misspelling of yay.