Yawl
/jɔːl/noun
A small sailing vessel, typically with two masts, or a ship’s small boat.
Did you know?English yawl is a nautical borrowing from Dutch jolle, and the word’s history shows how seafaring vocabulary often spread through trade routes rather than formal scholarship.
Etymological Timeline
16th Century
Dutch
jolle
“a small boat or ship’s boat”
16th–17th Century
English
yawl
“a small ship’s boat”
Modern English
English
yawl
“a small sailing vessel, often with two masts, or a ship’s boat”
Early Modern English
English
yawle
“variant spelling of yawl”