See Also:

y-(8) (iou)



y- prefix. arch.

a. Forming nouns and adjectives with the senses 'association', 'similarity', 'appropriateness'; forming nouns denoting mutual or collective relation.
b. Forming nouns and verbs with the senses '(attainment of) result, stage in a process'; forming adjectives denoting a state.
Forming pa. pples and ppl adjectives, and verbs from verbs.
? Y- was largely lost in sense 1 by LME but survived in sense 2 (chiefly in pa. pples and ppl adjectives) as a deliberate archaism, as in yclad, yclept, yravish.