Yankee

The term "Yankee" (sometimes shortened to "Yank") has many different meanings, but all of them refer to people from the United States. Outside the country, "Yank" is used to refer to any American, including Southerners.

Within the Southern United States, "Yankee" is a name that refers, often in a mean way, to all Northerners or specifically to those from New England. The Oxford English Dictionary states that the term is "a nickname for a person from New England, or, more widely, of the northern States generally." During the American Civil War, it was "used by the Confederates to the soldiers of the Federal army"

Elsewhere in the United States, it often refers to people from the Northeast, especially those with New England cultural ties. That would include people, wherever they live, who have colonial New England settler ancestors.

References

Other websites

 Online Etymology Dictionary
 Wordorigins.org 

Category:New England