From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishYankeeYan‧kee /ˈjæŋki/ noun [countable] informal 1 a soldier who fought on the side of the Union (=the northern states) during the American Civil War2 American EnglishSA someone born in or living in the northern states of the US – sometimes used in an insulting way by people from the southern US3 SAN British English an American – often used to show disapproval SYN Yank4 American English someone from New England
Examples from the Corpus
Yankee• I wonder how many times I was taken in by his Yankee sincerity, his B-movie honesty.• The bombers were not near, but across the road from us were two Yankee soldiers.Origin Yankee (1700-1800) Perhaps from Dutch Jantje “Johnny”, used as a word for Dutch people who came to America in the 18th century 