hay

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See also: Hay, hãy, and haþ

English

A Romanian haycock

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English hey, from Old English hīeġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hawi, from Proto-Germanic *hawją (compare West Frisian hea, Dutch hooi, German Heu, Norwegian høy), from *hawwaną (“to hew, cut down”). More at hew.

Noun

hay (countable and uncountable, plural hays)

  1. (uncountable) Grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder.
    • 1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, […], London: […] G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson, →OCLC:
      Make hay while sunne shines.
    • 1857, Charles Louis Flint, Grasses and Forage Plants: A Practical Treatise […]
      Hay may be dried too much as well as too little.
  2. (countable) Any mix of green leafy plants used for fodder.
  3. (slang) Cannabis; marijuana.
    • 1947, William Burroughs, letter, 19 Feb 1947:
      I would like some of that hay. Enclose $20.
  4. A net set around the haunt of an animal, especially a rabbit.
Derived terms
Translations
Further reading

Verb

hay (third-person singular simple present hays, present participle haying, simple past and past participle hayed)

  1. To cut grasses or herb plants for use as animal fodder.
  2. To lay snares for rabbits.
Translations

See also

Etymology 2

From Middle English haye, heye, a conflation of Old English heġe (“hedge, fence”) and Old English ġehæġ (“an enclosed piece of land”).

Noun

hay (plural hays)

  1. (obsolete) A hedge.
  2. (obsolete) A net placed around the lair or burrow of an animal.
  3. (obsolete) An enclosure, haw.
  4. (obsolete) A circular country dance.
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    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
      I’ll make one in a dance, or so; or I will play
      On the tabour to the Worthies, and let them dance the hay.

Etymology 3

From the sound it represents, by analogy with other letters such as kay and gay. The expected form in English if the h had survived in the Latin name of the letter "h", hā.

Noun

hay (plural hays)

  1. The letter for the h sound in Pitman shorthand.
  • aitch, the Latin letter for this sound

Further reading

Anagrams

Lushootseed

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Verb

hay

  1. to know

Malagasy

Etymology 1

Interjection

hay

  1. truly!, indeed!

Etymology 2

Participle

hay

  1. possible
  2. known

Etymology 3

Noun

hay

  1. (dialectal) burning

Etymology 4

Adjective

hay

  1. (of land) exposed, bare

Etymology 5

Noun

hay

  1. (Tankarana) an insect which damages rice crops

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

hay (plural hayes)

  1. Alternative form of haye (“net”)

Etymology 2

Interjection

hay

  1. Alternative form of hey (“hey”)

Etymology 3

Noun

hay (uncountable)

  1. Alternative form of hey (“hay”)

Etymology 4

Pronoun

hay

  1. Alternative form of he (“they”)

Etymology 5

Noun

hay

  1. Alternative form of heye (“hedge”)

Etymology 6

Verb

hay

  1. Alternative form of haven (“to have”)

Middle French

Verb

hay

  1. first-person singular present indicative of hayr

Somali

Verb

hay

  1. to hold

Spanish

Etymology

From Old Spanish ha ý (“it has there”) (compare Catalan hi ha and French il y a), from ha, third-person singular present of aver (“to have”), + ý (locative pronoun, compare modern French y and Catalan hi), from Latin ibī (“there”).

Pronunciation

Verb

hay

  1. (impersonal) Present indicative form of haber, there is, there are
    Hay dos tiendas que venden películas.
    There are two stores that sell films.

Derived terms

Tagalog

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Compare Hokkien Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "nan-hok" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E..

Interjection

hay

  1. Alternative form of ay
  2. an expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like: sigh
    Hay... Antok na ako!
    Sigh... I'm sleepy already!
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun

hay

  1. (obsolete) act of frighting or startling a dog
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Borrowed from English high.

Adjective

hay

  1. (slang) high on drugs; drugged
    Synonyms: sabog, basag, bogsa

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Cognate with Arem hɪː ("to understand").

Verb

hay • (𫨩)

  1. (archaic or literary) to know; to get to know; to learn
    • 2018 January 22, Viễn Sự, Sơn Lâm, “Trẻ con lai ở miền Tây: Con không cha như nhà không nóc [The mixed children in Southwestern Vietnam: a fatherless child is like a roofless house]”, in Tuổi Trẻ Online‎[1]:
      Hồi mẹ nó ẵm về nước, bà nội nó nói mua cho cái vé khứ hồi, tới hồi ra sân bay về lại Hàn Quốc thì mới hay cái vé đi có một chiều.
      When his mother carried him in her arms back to Vietnam, his paternal grandmother said they had bought a return ticket for her, but she realised it was only a one-way ticket when she was at the airport, trying to return to Korea.
  2. (‘hay’ + verb) to have a habit of (doing something)
    Ai hay vẽ rồi sẽ vẽ hay.
    Who draws habitually will draw well.
    Con hay nói nhiều lắm.
    You, child, have a habit of talking too much / You, child, are talkative.
Usage notes
Derived terms
Derived terms

Etymology 2

Adjective

hay • (𫨩)

  1. good, as in useful, inventive, interesting or entertaining; compare tốt (good as in high-quality, skillful or ethical)
    Antonyms: dở, tệ, tồi
    ý hay ― a good idea
    Phim hay quá ha !
    That was a great movie!
Derived terms
Derived terms

Adverb

hay • (𫨩)

  1. well
    Antonyms: dở, tệ, tồi
    Ai hay vẽ rồi sẽ vẽ hay.
    Who draws habitually will draw well.

Etymology 3

Conjunction

hay (là) (咍)

  1. or
    Chọn cái này, hay chọn cái kia
    Choose this one, or choose that one
Derived terms
Derived terms
See also

Walloon

Pronunciation

Interjection

hay

  1. go, let us go

Yola

Pronoun

hay

  1. Alternative form of hea (“he”)
    • 1927, “LAMENT OF A WIDOW”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, line 6:
      "Hay was mee gude plowere,
      "He was my good plougher,

References

  • Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 130
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