yin-yang

Alternative forms

• yin and yang, yin yang, ying-yang, ying yang

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin 陰陽／阴阳 (yīnyáng), from Middle Chinese 陰陽 (MC 'im yang), from Old Chinese 陰陽 (OC *qrɯm laŋ), from 陰 (“dark” → “negative force”) + 陽 (“bright” → “positive force”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: yĭn yăng, IPA^(key): /ˈjɪn ˈjæŋ/, (proscribed) /ˈjɪŋ ˈjæŋ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

yin-yang (plural yin-yangs)

1. Yin and yang.
2. A circular symbol with white and black sections (☯), representing the fusion of the concepts of yin and yang.
3. (colloquial, somewhat vulgar) The vulva or vagina.
   • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 124:

     U.S.S. Millicent asked Mario if he'd ever seen a girl's yin-yang before.

   • 2009, Stanley William Rogal, What Passes for Love, page 76:

     "So I took off my apron and told her she could shove the job up her yin-yang."

4. (colloquial, somewhat vulgar) The anus or rectum.

   He thought he could smuggle the drugs over the border by putting them in capsules and stuffing them up his yin-yang. Not a good idea!

   • 2021 January 19, CBC News, “Saskatchewan will run out of COVID-19 vaccine in the next few days, Moe says”, in Saskatchewan‎:

     "... I'd be on that phone call every single day. I'd be up that guy's yin-yang so far with a firecracker he wouldn't know what hit him," the Ontario premier said of Pfizer's executives.

Alternative forms

• yin et yang

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ji.njɑ̃ɡ/

Noun

yin-yang m (uncountable)

1. (Chinese philosophy) yin-yang (opposite principles in Chinese philosophy)

Pronunciation

Noun

yin-yang m (uncountable)

1. (Chinese philosophy) yin-yang (opposite principles in Chinese philosophy)