About this episode

This episode explores the word 'yaw', its meanings, and its historical context in nautical and aeronautical terminology.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 14, 2026 is: yaw • \YAW\  • verb The verb yaw when used for the action of a ship, aircraft, spacecraft, or projectile means "to move to the left or right especially in an uncontrolled manner." More broadly, yaw is used as a synonym of alternate to mean "to change from one to another repeatedly." // The rogue wave hit the vessel, and the ship yawed hard to the right. // The album yaws from soulful ballad to up-tempo pop hit and back again. See the entry > Examples: "The out-of-control motion radiated down to the spacecraft itself, which began yawing and pitching in response to the force." — Jeffrey Kluger, Time , 11 Nov. 2025 Did you know? In the heyday of large sailing ships, numerous nautical words appeared on the horizon. Yaw is one such word. Its origin isn't exactly known, but it began turning up in print in the 16th century, first as a noun meaning "movement off course" or "side to side movement," and then as a verb. For centuries, it remained a sailing word—often alongside pitch ("to have the front end rise and fall")—with occasional extended use as a synonym of the verb alternate . When the era of airplane…

People in this episode

Host: Merriam-Webster

Topics covered

• nautical terminology
• aeronautics
• language evolution
• word usage
• verb definitions

Keywords

• yaw
• verb
• nautical
• aeronautics
• language
• movement
• sailing
• pitch
• roll

More episodes of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

• dog days · July 21, 2026 · 2 min
• raffish · July 20, 2026 · 2 min
• accentuate · July 19, 2026 · 2 min
• quid pro quo · July 18, 2026 · 2 min
• obdurate · July 17, 2026 · 2 min
• bibelot · July 16, 2026 · 2 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day podcast page.