*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of yacht

Circa 1557; variant of yaught, earlier yeaghe (“light, fast-sailing ship”), from Dutch jacht (“yacht; hunt”), in older spelling jaght(e), short for jaghtschip (“light sailing vessel, fast pirate ship”, literally “pursuit

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

A slick and light ship for making pleasure trips or racing on water, having sails but often motor-powered. At times used as a residence offshore on a dock. · Any vessel used for private, noncommercial purposes.

verb

To sail, voyage, or race in a yacht.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Circa 1557; variant of yaught, earlier yeaghe (“light, fast-sailing ship”), from Dutch jacht (“yacht; hunt”), in older spelling jaght(e), short for jaghtschip (“light sailing vessel, fast pirate ship”, literally “pursuit ship”), compound of jacht and schip (“ship”). In the 16th century the Dutch built light, fast ships to chase the ships of pirates and smugglers from the coast. The ship was introduced to England in 1660 when the Dutch East India Company presented one to King Charles II, who used it as a pleasure boat, after which it was copied by British shipbuilders as a pleasure craft for wealthy gentlemen.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Derivation mentionjachtnl · yacht; hunt
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "nl",
        "3": "jacht",
        "t": "yacht; hunt"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch jacht (“yacht; hunt”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "yaught",
      "yaught#English"
    ],
    [
      "yeaghe",
      "yeaghe#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "jacht",
      "jacht#Dutch"
    ],
    [
      "jaght(e)",
      "jaghte#Dutch"
    ],
    [
      "jaghtschip",
      "jaghtschip#Dutch"
    ],
    [
      "jacht",
      "jacht#Dutch"
    ],
    [
      "schip",
      "schip#Dutch"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A slick and light ship for making pleasure trips or racing on water, having sails but often motor-powered. At times used as a residence offshore on a dock.",
        "Any vessel used for private, noncommercial purposes."
      ],
      "tags": [],
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      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 16098
    },
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To sail, voyage, or race in a yacht."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive"
      ],
      "recordId": "8b57c68e71fd95722f811b558cc13f97fdd92fed38e93dd98eadf7c28db9177d",
      "rawRecordSha256": "ba713e5c4d0d5200ffd7eb23ac6bcef1eeabb4c0d8129fc1a159bcb3e08a3d16",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 16099
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for yacht →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-eWFjaHQ