ay

See also: Ay, AY, aý, aþ, -ay, ấy, āy, and -aþ

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aɪ/ (interjection)
  • Rhymes: -aɪ
  • Homophones: aye, eye, I

Interjection

ay

1. Ah! alas!
2. Alternative spelling of aye ("yes")
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     "Good morrow to thee, jolly fellow," quoth Robin, "thou seemest happy this merry morn."

     "Ay, that am I," quoth the jolly Butcher, "and why should I not be so? Am I not hale in wind and limb? Have I not the bonniest lass in all Nottinghamshire? And lastly, am I not to be married to her on Thursday next in sweet Locksley Town?"

Noun

ay (plural ays)

1. Alternative spelling of aye ("yes")

   counting the ays and the noes in a vote

Etymology 2

From Middle English ai, from Old Norse ei, from Proto-Germanic *aiw-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“vitality”); cognate with Old English ā, Ancient Greek ἀεί (aeí, “always”), and Latin aevum (“an age”).

Alternative forms

• aye

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eɪ/ (adverb, adjective)
  • Rhymes: -eɪ
  • Homophones: A, eh

Adverb

ay (not comparable)

1. Always; ever.
   • 1670, John Barbour, The Acts and Life of the most victorious Conquerour Robert Bruce King of Scotland, as cited in 1860, Thomas Corser, Collectanea Anglo-poetica, page 160

     O he that hath ay lived free, [...]

Synonyms

• always
• continually
• forever

Adjective

ay (not comparable)

1. For an indefinite time.

Interjection

ay

1. New Zealand spelling of eh (question tag)

Further reading

• Ay in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.

Anagrams

• YA, ya

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Azeri

Other scripts
Cyrillic	ај
Roman	ay
Perso-Arabic	آی‏

Etymology

Cognate with Old Turkic [script needed] (ay, “moon”), from Proto-Turkic.

Noun

ay (definite accusative ayı, plural aylar)

1. moon
2. month

Declension

Declension of ay

	singular	plural
nominative	ay	aylar
definite accusative	ayı	ayları
dative	aya	aylara
locative	ayda	aylarda
ablative	aydan	aylardan
definite genitive	ayın	ayların

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Crimean Tatar

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *āń(k) (“moon, month”). Compare Turkish ay (“moon, month”).

Noun

ay

1. month
2. moon

Declension

Declension of ay

nominative	ay
genitive	aynıñ
dative	ayğa
accusative	aynı
locative	ayda
ablative	aydan

References

• Mirjejev, V. A.; Usejinov, S. M. (2002) Ukrajinsʹko-krymsʹkotatarsʹkyj slovnyk [Ukrainian – Crimean Tatar Dictionary]^[1], Simferopol: Dolya, ISBN 966-7980-89-8

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Czech

Interjection

ay

1. obsolete typography of aj

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Gagauz

Etymology 1

From Proto-Turkic *āń(k) (“moon, month”). Compare Turkish ay (“moon, month”).

Noun

ay (definite accusative ayı, plural aylar)

1. moon
2. month

Etymology 2

Borrowing from Ancient Greek ἅγιος (hágios).

Noun

ay (definite accusative ayı, plural aylar)

1. saint

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Ladino

Etymology

From Old Spanish ha i (“it has there”).

Verb

ay (Latin spelling)

1. there is, there are

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Middle French

Verb

ay

1. first-person singular present indicative of avoir

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Scots

Etymology

Probably from a use of aye to express agreement.

Adverb

ay (not comparable)

1. yes

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ai/
• Homophone: hay

Interjection

¡ay!

1. Ah!, Alas!
2. Woe!
3. Expresses pain, sorrow, or surprise.
4. A stereotypical sound of a Latino or Latina (e.g. ¡Ay Papi!, something like saying "Oh Baby!")

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Sranan Tongo

Etymology

From English eye.

Noun

ay

1. eye

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Tagalog

Preposition

ay

1. Equality marker. It can be translated as is, am, are, was, will be, etc., but functions as a preposition, not a verb.
2. Verb/predicate marker. Only used when the verb or predicate does not begin the sentence.

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Turkish

Etymology 1

From Ottoman Turkish ای‏ (ay, “moon, month, crescent, a beautiful face”), آي‏ (ay), from Proto-Turkic *āń(k) (“moon, month”).

Cognate with Old Turkic 𐰖‏ (ay, “month”), Karakhanid ااىْ‏ (āy, “moon, month”), Old Uyghur [script needed] (ay, “moon, month”), Azeri ay (“moon”), Bashkir ай (ay, “moon”), Chuvash уйӑх (ujăh, “moon”), Kazakh ай (ay, “moon”), Khakas ай (ay, “moon”), Kyrgyz ай (ay, “moon”), Southern Altai ай (ay, “moon”), Tatar ай (ay, “moon”), Turkmen āý (“moon”), Tuvan ай (ay, “moon”), Uyghur ئاي‏ (ay, “moon”), Uzbek oy (“moon”), Yakut ый (ıy, “moon”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aj/

Noun

ay (definite accusative ayı, plural aylar)

1. moon
2. month

Declension

declension of ay

	singular (tekil)	plural (çoğul)
nominative (yalın)	ay	aylar
definite accusative (belirtme)	ayı	ayları
dative (yönelme)	aya	aylara
locative (bulunma)	ayda	aylarda
ablative (ayrılma)	aydan	aylardan
genitive (tamlayan)	ayın	ayların

Related terms

Related terms

• aydede
• aydın
• ay hali
• ay ışığı

• aylı
• aylık
• aysız

• ayçiçeği
• balayı
• dolunay

Etymology 2

From Ottoman Turkish آى‏ (ay!), akin to Karakhanid [script needed] (ay!, “oh!”), Old Uyghur [script needed] (ay!, “oh!”)

Interjection

ay

1. exclamation of surprise, shock or fear: oh!

   Ay kim gelmiş! ― Oh (look) who is (apparently) here!

2. exclamation of pain: ouch!

   Ay, başım! ― Ouch, my head (hurt)!

Related terms

• ayol

See also

• hay!
• ey!

Further reading

• ay in Turkish dictionaries at Türk Dil Kurumu

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Wolof

Article

ay

1. some (plural indefinite article)

Usage notes

Precedes the noun.