yippee ki-yay

English

WOTD – 12 July 2025

Etymology

Probably an elaboration of yippee (“used to express excitement”) and yay (“used to express happiness”). The term was associated with the Western United States in the 19th century, and may have originated from scat syllables in so-called “cowboy songs”—compare “Coma ti yi youpy, youpy ya, youpy ya, / Coma ti yi youpy, youpy ya”, the chorus of “The Old Chisholm Trail” which dates to the 1870s and was first published in 1910.[1] The specific term yippee ki-yay was possibly influenced by the line “yippee yi yo kayah”, from the chorus of the 1936 song “I’m an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)” written by the American singer and songwriter Johnny Mercer (1909–1976) for the film Rhythm on the Range and sung by Bing Crosby (1903–1977).[2]

Sense 2 (“used to express defiance against, or to startle, an opponent”) refers to the film Die Hard (1988), in which police detective John McClane (played by Bruce Willis), responding to the taunt “Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr. Cowboy?” by the terrorist leader Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) whom he is hunting down, says “Yippee ki-yay, motherfucker.” The line was written by the screenwriter Steven E. de Souza (born 1947), based on the expression “Yippee ki yah, kids” apparently said by the American actor and singer Roy Rogers (1911–1998) who frequently played cowboy roles.[3]

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈjɪpiː kaɪˈjeɪ/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈjɪpi kaɪˈjeɪ/
  • Audio (General American):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪ
  • Hyphenation: yip‧pee ki-yay

Interjection

yippee ki-yay (originally and chiefly US)

  1. Used to express excitement or joy: yippee.
  3. (by extension) Used to express defiance against, or to startle, an opponent.
    • 2022 October 24, Kothardarastrix [pseudonym], “A Nightmare on 17th Street”, in SCP Foundation‎[3], archived from the original on 16 January 2024:
      "YIPPY-KAI-YAY, MOTHERFUCKER!" Porkchop bellowed, firing off a dozen rounds in the Old Man's general direction. Some actually struck the monster, evinced by the sprays of black mucus that shot out behind it, but it didn't seem to notice as it strode menacingly in Porkchop's direction. His aim grew more erratic as the monster approached, with some bullets flying wild into the wood pile or kicking up plumes of dirt far behind his target.
    • 2023 November 30, Drachinifel [pseudonym], “The Drydock” (2:25:51 from the start), in YouTube‎[4], episode 257 (Live Segment), archived from the original on 25 December 2023:
      If you wanted to tell it more from an American side of things … if you wanted to go for the tragic angle, you could either do, Atlanta or Juneau; if you wanted to go with the, uhhh, y'know, yippee ki-yay, guns-firing-all-left-right-and-center, you would go with Helena; or, if you wanted to go with a kind of human-struggle side of things, probably focus on San Francisco; and, if you were going with the Helena option, then, obviously, you could include ships like Laffey and so on and so forth.

Alternative forms

Translations

References

  1. ^ John A[very] Lomax, compiler (1910) “The Old Chisholm Trail”, in Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, New York, N.Y.: Sturgis & Walton Company, →OCLC, page 58.
  2. ^ Angela Tung (8 January 2015) “Wordnik: A Brief History of Yippee-ki-yay”, in The Week‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The Week Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 June 2025.
  3. ^ Dan Frazier quoting Steven E. de Souza (24 August 2015) “‘There is No Such Thing as an Action Movie.’ Steven E. de Souza on Screenwriting”, in Creative Screenwriting‎[2], archived from the original on 8 March 2025: “Bruce [Willis] and I grew up watching the same TV shows. Roy Rogers used to say ‘Yippee ki yah, kids’ So it had to become ‘Yippee ki yah, motherfucker’ in the movie. That line was from me.”
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