Sarah Cottrell, a mother of two tween boys, sought “to crack a secret language code of tweens that is driving some of us absolutely crazy… WHAT THE HELL DOES YEET MEAN?… a source of unending frustration for [parents] everywhere”.

The first time she asked her one son, he just rolled his eyes. She was “definitely in pre-teen territory and no one can make any sudden movements or – God forbid – ask any questions”. But when she consulted the Internet, she learned that no one really knows – “in what situations does one say yeet and it makes sense? None, if you’re a mom, according to my tween son”.

So, Merriam-Webster has yeeted the word into its dictionary

Merriam has noted that, “When a new word starts making the rounds, we don’t just yeet it into the dictionary the first time we encounter it. Instead, we wait for the word to meet our criteria for entry: sustained, meaningful, widespread use”. In September 2022, Merriam did just that. Yeet! From its “celebratory beginnings, yeet mostly hummed along as an obscure slang word until 2014 when a very 21st-century thing happened. Namely, the word got linked to videos” (Merriam).

Yeet as a dance move

Know Your Meme describes the dance move as “dipping one’s shoulder in rhythmic steps with both hands out in front and knees bent as if the performer is riding a bicycle” (cited in Ritzen). The move’s first known appearance was in February 2014, uploaded to YouTube by ‘Milik Fullilove’. Others then uploaded their own takes and memes, gathering bazillions of views. Eventually, yeet became a thing.

A versatile word

One definition on Urban Dictionary, which features hundreds of pages of yeet entries, called yeet a “beautiful and commonly misused word” (cited in Ritzen). Its meaning has evolved. As an exclamation, it can express excitement, happiness, nervousness, victory, an adrenaline rush, or a battle cry or ‘focus shout’ while throwing or hitting something. It can mean any violent motion, such as a whip, or a motion associated with violent camera shake or photo blur. In science fiction, warp speed could lead to an interstellar yeet.

Yeet is sometimes used instead of yes or yeah – “if you want people to know you’re fun and hip” (cited in Ritzen). It can be a cry of expected victory, such as when dunking a basketball, or when throwing, discarding or completing something – mostly for comedic effect. Yeet power usually involves more than one person. Someone may yell YEET! at the top of their lungs to bystanders.

Here are some usage examples: