The term "yes-yes" is a borrowing, likely from a West African language, entering English through colonial botanical and trade contacts. It exemplifies a process called reduplication, where a word or syllable is repeated to form a new term, often for plants or animals in local vernaculars. The repetition may serve to indicate a plural, a characteristic, or simply to adopt a local name into a form recognizable to English speakers. As such, its etymology is not traced to Proto-Indo-European but represents a direct adoption and morphological adaptation within the English lexicon.

The word "yes-yes" is a reduplication, formed by repeating the element "yes". Its origin is not from classical roots but is a local name adopted into English.