High-spin states in doubly odd 88 Y have been investigated using the 82 Se( 11 B, 5n) reaction at beam energies of 48 and 52 MeV. On the basis of the γ -γ coincidence relationships, the level scheme of 88 Y has been extended up to an excitation energy of 9.5 MeV at spin 21h. About 20 new levels and 30 new transitions have been added into the level scheme, and spin-parity assignments have been made to most of the newly proposed levels. In order to better understand the nuclear structure of 88 Y, semiempirical shell-model calculations were carried out considering a valence space formed by the proton 1p 1/2 , 1p 3/2 , 0f 5/2 , 0g 9/2 and neutron 0g 9/2 orbitals.