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Merriam-Webster
merriam-webster.com › dictionary › yes
YES Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of YES is —used as a function word to express assent or agreement. How to use yes in a sentence.
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Oxford English Dictionary
oed.com › dictionary › yes_adv
yes, adv., n., & int. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary
Yes [1881 R.V. Yea], of the Gentiles also . Bible (King James) Romans iii. 29 ... Val. What meanes your Ladiship? Doe you not like it?
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Wiktionary
en.wiktionary.org › wiki › yes
yes - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
From Middle English yes, from Old English ġīese (“by all means, of course, yes”), derived from the same root as yea.
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Dictionary.com
dictionary.com › browse › yes
YES Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Yes definition: (used to express affirmation or assent or to mark the addition of something emphasizing and amplifying a previous statement).. See examples of YES used in a sentence.
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Grammarly
grammarly.com › blog › commonly-confused-words › yea-yeah-yay
Yea, Yeah or Yay–What's the Difference? | Grammarly
October 6, 2022 - Here’s a tip: Want to make sure your writing shines? Grammarly can check your spelling and save you from grammar and punctuation mistakes. It even proofreads your text, so your work is extra polished wherever you write. ... Yea is pronounced “yay” and it means yes.
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Cambridge Dictionary
dictionary.cambridge.org › us › dictionary › english › yes
YES | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary
YES meaning: 1. used to express willingness or agreement: 2. used for emphasis: 3. used to show that you are…. Learn more.
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Spellzone
spellzone.com › dictionary › yes
yes - an affirmative | English Spelling Dictionary
Find the meaning of 'yes': an affirmative. Learn how to spell 'yes'.
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ProWritingAid
prowritingaid.com › yay-or-nay
Yea, Yay, or Nay: What’s the Difference?
March 12, 2022 - ProWritingAid’s free editing tool is a great way to check for spelling errors and even correct homophone usage. Use the Homonyms Report to avoid mixing up words like nay and neigh. The difference between yea and nay is simple. Yea means yes.
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LanguageTool
languagetool.org › home › yea or nay—or is it yay?
Yea or Nay—Or Is It Yay?
June 13, 2025 - Yea means yes or signals an affirmative vote. Nay means no or signals a negative vote. Yay is an interjection that expresses triumph or joy.
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Dictionary.com
dictionary.com › e › yeah-vs-yea
What Is The Difference Between "Yea" vs. "Yeah"? - Dictionary.com
February 25, 2021 - So what about yeah? It is an informal adverb that means “yes.” · The correct spelling of the word depends on which way you want to use it.
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Merriam-Webster
merriam-webster.com › thesaurus › yes
YES Synonyms: 49 Similar and Opposite Words | Merriam-Webster Thesaurus
Synonyms for YES: yeah, OK, alright, yep, aye, all right, yo, yea; Antonyms of YES: no, nay, scarcely, no way, negative, con, non placet, refusal
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Merriam-Webster
merriam-webster.com › dictionary › yes, yes
YES, YES Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of YES, YES is —used to show anger or irritation. How to use yes, yes in a sentence.
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Wordutopia
wordutopia.com › home › words › about the word “yes”
About The Word "Yes" - Wordutopia
June 26, 2023 - The word 'yes' has its origins in Old English, derived from the Germanic word 'gēse' or 'gēs', which is a contraction of the phrase 'gēa sīc', meaning 'so be it' or 'may it be so'.
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Vocabulary.com
vocabulary.com › dictionary › yes
Yes - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms | Vocabulary.com
Yes is a confirmation or an affirmative — a positive reply. When you say yes to a friend's invitation to a party, it means you'll be there.
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Encyclopedia Britannica
britannica.com › dictionary › yes
Yes Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary
YES meaning: 1 : used to give a positive answer or reply to a question, request, or offer; 2 : used to express agreement with an earlier statement or to say that statement is true
Top answer
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Oxford Dictionaries.com gives yeses and yesses as accepted spellings of the plural of yes, whereas searching Cambridge Dictionaries Online for yesses does not return any results.

In the absence of agreement amongst widely accepted authorities, it's a good idea to turn to usage. A quick Google N-gram query for occurrences yeses vs. yesses in their library of books published between 1800 and 2008 suggests that, from the twentieth century onwards, yeses has been the preferred to yesses (the tool is seemingly unable to parse apostrophes); greatly so from around 1950 onwards.

If I were to use yes in its plural form, I would therefore opt for yeses. Given that there is no authoritative consensus, though, it is to a large extent a matter of preference. I imagine there is no fixed, definitive spelling because (anecdotally) it doesn't seem to be a word that is commonly used in the plural, an observation that the N-Gram results appear to support.

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Any of the first three. An argument could be made for the fourth. I'd advise that you favour the second, or perhaps the third depending on your dialect. (The OED incidentally offers yes's and yeses, while some other dictionaries offer yesses as well).

The noun yes comes from a mention of the much older adjective yes.

Now, how plural forms apply to mention (as in the use/mention distinction) has been discussed elsewhere here, but two common forms are:

  1. Use an apostrophe in forming the plural.
  2. Pluralise it as you would any other word.

(Some other forms include italicising the yes but not the es, and putting the yes part in single or double quotes).

The first is increasingly old-fashioned and sometimes mistaken for "grocer's apostrophe's" where people incorrectly use apostrophes with normal plural forms, but it was once the normal way of pluralising in such contexts (see this answer for more on that).

As such, while historically valid, it's probably best avoided.

Now, from the second we would expect yeses, because that's the normal productive plural form for a word ending in -es.

Meanwhile, doubling the s in this case is rare but not unheard of (c.f. both buses and busses are found, the latter according the the OED being more common in America). Hence yesses also being found.

The last though would be very strange; it half-uses the old form, but in the old form the apostrophe acts as a separator and there is nothing on the other side of the separator.

As such, I'd reject the last, accept the first as valid, but recommend you use either yeses or yesses depending on whether the orthography you normally use has you write buses or busses.

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Thesaurus.com
thesaurus.com › e › ways-to-say › s › yes-words
7 Different Ways To Say "Yes" | Thesaurus.com
October 2, 2018 - The word "yes" comes from the Old English word meaning "be it." Here are a few different ways to agree with someone without saying "Yes."