yo-yo

See also: yoyo, Yoyo, YOYO, and yoyó

English

Photograph of a national yo-yo champion in Chico, California

Etymology

Genericized trademark. Most likely from Ilocano yóyo, or another Philippine cognate. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈjəʊ.jəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈjoʊ.joʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (UK) -əʊjəʊ, (US) -oʊjoʊ

Noun

yo-yo (plural yo-yos)

1. A toy consisting of a spheroidal or cylindrical spindle having a circular groove in which string is wound; it is used by holding the string in the fingers and reeling the spindle up and down by movements of the wrist.

   Coordinate terms: diabolo, whirligig

   I bought a yo-yo from the toy store yesterday.

2. (finance) A volatile market that moves up and down.
3. (informal) Someone who vacillates.
4. (aviation, military) A dogfighting maneuver involving the attacker temporarily exchanging altitude for airspeed, or vice versa, in order to rapidly catch up with the defender or to prevent an overshoot.
5. (sewing) A cloth rosette formed by gathering the outside edge of a circle of fabric in toward the centre using a running stitch.
6. (informal) A foolish, annoying or incompetent person.

   It is hard to watch the management for very long and not conclude that the place is run by a bunch of yo-yos.

   • 1985, Sting & Mark Knopfler (lyrics and music), “Money for Nothing”, in Brothers in Arms, performed by Dire Straits:

     Now look at them yo-yos, that's the way you do it

   • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:

     Henry glanced past him at the few other customers currently in attendance. "Hey! Any of you yo-yos headed up Castle Hill?"

Hyponyms

(dogfight maneuver):

• high yo-yo
• low yo-yo

Derived terms

• Chinese yo-yo
• high yo-yo
• low yo-yo
• yo-yo despin
• yo-yo dieting
• yo-yoer
• yo-yo mode
• yo-yo reflux
• yo-yo weight

 

Descendants

• → Italian: yo-yo

Translations

toy

• Afrikaans: jojo
• Arabic: يُويُو (ar) m (yūyū)
• Catalan: io-io (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 搖搖／摇摇 (jiu⁴ jiu^4-2)

  Mandarin: 溜溜球 (zh) (liūliūqiú)

• Czech: jojo (cs) n
• Dhivehi: ޔޯޔޯ (yōyō)
• Dutch: jojo (nl) m
• Finnish: jojo (fi)
• French: yo-yo (fr) m
• German: Jo-Jo (de) n, Yo-Yo (de) n
• Greek: γιογιό (el) n (giogió)
• Hebrew: יו־יו (yoyo)
• Hindi: योयो m (yoyo), यो-यो m (yo-yo)
• Hungarian: jojó (hu)
• Icelandic: jójó n
• Italian: yo-yo (it) m
• Japanese: ヨーヨー (yōyō)
• Korean: 요요 (ko) (yoyo)
• Malay:

  Rumi: yoyo

• Marathi: योयो m (yoyo)
• Norwegian: jojo m
• Persian: یویو (fa) (yoyo)
• Polish: jojo (pl) n, jo-jo (pl) n
• Portuguese: ioiô (pt) m
• Russian: йо-йо́ (ru) n (jo-jó), йо́-йо (ru) n (jó-jo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: јо-јо m

  Roman: jo-jo m

• Slovak: jojo n
• Spanish: yo-yo m, yoyó m
• Swedish: jojo (sv) c
• Thai: โยโย่ (yoh-yôh)
• Turkish: yo-yo (tr)
• Ukrainian: йо-йо́ n (jo-jó), йо́-йо n (jó-jo)
• Urdu: یو یو m (yo-yo)

volatile market

someone who vacillates

a cloth rosette

• Portuguese: fuxico (pt) m

Verb

yo-yo (third-person singular simple present yo-yos, present participle yo-yoing, simple past and past participle yo-yoed)

1. (intransitive) To vacillate; to move up and down.
   • 1990, The Economist, volume 316, page 93:

     The yo-yoing stockmarket whizzed back up by around a quarter and then started to fall again.

Further reading

• yo-yo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English yo-yo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /joˈjɔ/^*, /jɔˈjɔ/^*
• Rhymes: -ɔ

Noun

yo-yo m (invariable)

1. (games) yo-yo

Further reading

• yo-yo on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^it
• yo-yo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• yo-yo in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)