About

Yesn't is a fake word submitted as a satirical synonym for the word "no," which gained traction online following the circulation of a viral Change.org petition in mid-May 2018.

Origin

On April 12th, 2008, Urban Dictionary^[1] user Robert Funk submitted an entry for "yesn't," defining it as an ambiguous "yes" or "no" (shown below).

Spread

The word was rarely used again until May 15th, 2018, when a petition titled "Change the word 'No' in the English language to 'Yesn't'" was submitted to Change.org^[6] (shown below). Within 24 hours, the petition gained over 16,900 signatures.

That day, a screenshot of the petition was submitted to /r/me_irl^[7] by Redditor Snowicide. Meanwhile, Redditor thiskal reposted the screenshot of the petition to /r/dankmemes,^[5] where it received upwards of 31,000 points (87% upvoted) and 400 comments with 24 hours. Meanwhile, the /r/yesnt^[3] subreddit was launched by Redditor Nicholas_L_Aranda. On May 16th, Redditor Arda2024 submitted a Vince McMahon reaction image with "yesn't u" in the final panel to /r/dankmemes,^[2] where it gained over 1,800 points (94% upvoted) and 20 comments in 13 hours (shown below).

That day, Redditor Dadikoe submitted a post asking "What does 'yesn't' mean and where did it come from?" to /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[4]

Search Interest

External References