English▸ noun a sailing boat equipped for cruising or racing:
he bought a yacht and taught himself to sail
[as modifier] a yacht club.
▪ [often with modifier] a powered boat or small ship equipped for cruising:
he was spotted on his luxury yacht
an eighty-five-foot diesel yacht.
– ORIGIN mid 16th century: from early modern Dutch jaghte, from jaghtschip ‘fast pirate ship’, from jag(h)t ‘hunting’ + schip ‘ship’.