Daily Ancestoryt
In old documents yt means "that": the y stands for the old letter thorn (th), and the raised t ends the word.
Yt is a scribal abbreviation of that. As with ye for the, the y is a stand in for the old letter thorn, which made the th sound. Writers usually raised the t above the line.
It appears in seventeenth and eighteenth century wills, deeds and court records, often in phrases like "it is my will yt my wife shall have." Reading it as that makes such sentences make sense right away.
As seen in a recordLine in a colonial will
I will yt my son Wm. shall have ye plantation
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "yt." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/yt. Last checked 2026-10-01.