What does «y» mean in Spanish?
- Twenty-third letter of the Spanish alphabet, and twenty-third of its consonants. It is called Greek i or ye. It represents a sonorous and generally fricative palatal sound, of more or less open or closed articulation, depending on the case. In some important areas such as the Río de la Plata, it is generally articulated with rehilation. Preceded by nasal, it becomes affricate, as in spouse. When it is word final, it is pronounced as a semivowel, as in soy, buey. The conjunction y is pronounced as a consonant when the previous word ends in a vowel and the following word also begins in a vowel (éste y aquél); it represents the vowel i if it is between consonants (hombres y mujeres); and it acquires semivowel or semiconsonant value when it forms a diphthong with the last vowel of the previous word (yo y tú) or with the first vowel of the following word (parientes y amigos); these phonetic variants do not modify the spelling of the conjunction y.
- cop. whose function is to join words or clauses in an affirmative concept. When there are several words or members of the period that are to be linked, as a general rule, it is only expressed before the last one.
Examples of use in Spanish: "ciudades, villas, lugares y aldeas".
- Preceded and followed by the same word, it denotes the idea of indefinite repetition.
Examples of use in Spanish: "días y días"; "cartas y cartas".
- Y. Yttrium symbol.