hey

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[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

Probably a natural expression, due to its presence with similar meaning in many unrelated languages: for example, Burmese ဟေး (hei), Finnish hei and Mandarin Chinese 哎 (āi), and various sound-alikes as Roman eho, Greek (eia), Dutch he, German hei.

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Interjection

hey

  1. An exclamation to get attention.
    Hey, look at this!
  2. A protest or reprimand.
    Hey! Stop that!
  3. An expression of surprise.
    Hey! This is new!
  4. An informal greeting, similar to hi (used in the US, Australia and Canada).
    Hey! How's it going?
  5. A request for repetition or explanation; an expression of confusion (see also eh).
    Hey? How's that?
  6. A meaningless beat marker or extra, filler syllable in musical lyrics.
    nana na na, nana na na hey hey hey, good bye

[edit] Related terms

[edit] Translations

exclamation to get attention
protest or reprimand
expression of surprise
informal greeting
request for repetition or explanation
meaningless beat marker, filler syllable
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] See also

[edit] Noun

Singular
hey

Plural
heys

hey (plural heys)

  1. (country dancing) A choreographic figure in which the dancers weave between one another.

[edit] Translations

country dancing figure

[edit] Faroese

[edit] Interjection

hey

  1. hi, hey, hello
    hey aftur! - hello again!

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Antonyms

Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hey"
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