aye

See also: Appendix:Variations of "aye"

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Ayere.

Symbol

aye

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Ayere.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Ayere terms

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ay, ai, aȝȝ, from Old Norse ei, ey, from Proto-Germanic *aiwa, *aiwō (“ever, always”), from *aiwaz (“age; law”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“long time”). Doublet of aeviternity and aevum.

See also Old English āwo, āwa, ā, ō, Middle Dutch ie, German je; also Old English ǣ(w) (“law”), West Frisian ieu (“century”), Dutch eeuw (“century”); also Irish aois (“age, period”), Breton oad (“age, period”), Latin ævum (“eternity”), Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn).

Alternative forms

• ay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eɪ/
  • Rhymes: -eɪ
  • Homophone: A
• (sometimes proscribed) IPA^(key): /aɪ/
  • Rhymes: -aɪ
  • Homophones: ay, eye, I

Adverb

aye (not comparable)

2. (archaic) Ever, always.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 15, column 2:

     […] Do that good miſcheefe, which may make this Iſland / Thine owne for euer, and I thy Caliban, / For aye thy foot-licker.

   • 1834, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

     The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, / And southward aye we fled.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Wheelbarrow”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, pages 65–66:

     Huge hills and mountains of casks on casks were piled upon her wharves, and side by side the world-wandering whale ships lay silent and safely moored at last; while from others came a sound of carpenters and coopers, with blended noises of fires and forges to melt the pitch, all betokening that new cruises were on the start; that one most perilous and long voyage ended, only begins a second; and a second ended, only begins a third, and so on, for ever and for aye.

   • 1863, Catherine Winkworth (translator), Praise to the Lord, the Almighty:

     Let the Amen sound from His people again; / Gladly for aye we adore Him.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:aye.

Derived terms

• ayegreen

Further reading

• Joseph Wright, editor (1898), “AYE, adv.¹.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume I (A–C), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 104.

Etymology 2

"Appears suddenly about 1575, and is exceedingly common about 1600." Probably from use of aye (“ever, always”) as expression of agreement or affirmation, or from Middle English a ye (“oh yes”), or synthesis of both. Compare Faroese ája (“certainly, ah yes”). More at oh, yea. Online Etymology Dictionary also with these posits a possible descent from I (as if clipped from e.g. "I assent").

Alternative forms

• ay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: ay, eye, I

Interjection

aye

1. Yes; yea; a word expressing assent, or an affirmative answer to a question.
   • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], signature A2, recto:

     Tro[ylus]. Haue I not tarried? Pan[darus]. I the grinding; but you muſt tarry the boulting. Troy. Haue I not tarried? Paude.^[sic] I the boulting; but you muſt tarry the leauening. Troy. Still haue I tarried. Pan. I, to the leauening, but heares yet in the word hereafter, the kneading, […]

   • 1925 spring, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, scene VII, in David: A Play, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published 1926, →OCLC, page 46:

     david: […] Will he surely give him his daughter? The daughter of his house in Gilgal? soldier: Aye, surely he will.

2. (nautical) A word used to acknowledge a command from a superior, usually preceded by a verbatim repeat-back.

Usage notes

• It is much used in Scotland, the north and Midlands of England, Northern Ireland, and North Wales, as well as in New Zealand (where it may follow rather than precede a statement). Also notably seen in viva voce voting in legislative bodies, etc., or in nautical contexts.

Synonyms

• yes
• yea

Antonyms

• nay
• no

Derived terms

• aye aye
• aye man
• och aye
• we aye
• well aye
• wye aye

Translations

yes

• Breton: ya (br)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嗯 (zh) (ǹg), 对 (zh) (duì), 是 (zh) (shì), 没错 (zh) (méicuó)

• Danish: javel (da)
• Finnish: jaa (fi), kyllä (fi)
• French: oui (fr)
• German: jawohl (de)
• Greek: ναι (el) (nai)
• Hungarian: igen (hu)
• Irish: aidhe
• Japanese: ええ (ja), はい (ja)
• Korean: 예 (ko) (ye)
• Neapolitan: sine
• Persian: بله (fa)
• Russian: есть (ru) (jestʹ)
• Spanish: sí (es), sé (es)
• Turkish: evet (tr)
• Welsh: ie

References

• Frank Graham, editor (1987), “AYE”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN.
• Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin, “aye”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[1], archived from the original on 5 September 2024.
• Bill Griffiths, editor (2004), “aye”, in A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Northumbria University Press, →ISBN.
• Joseph Wright, editor (1898), “AYE, adv.².”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume I (A–C), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 104-105.

Verb

aye (third-person singular simple present ayes, present participle ayeing or (now nonstandard) aying, simple past and past participle ayed)

1. To respond with an "aye".
   • 1981, Penelope Neri, Passion's Rapture, page 160:

     The men ayed their agreement.

Noun

aye (plural ayes)

1. An affirmative vote; one who votes in the affirmative.

   Synonym: (more common) yes

   Antonym: nay

   to call for the ayes and nays

   The ayes have it.

Translations

affirmative vote

• Finnish: jaa-ääni (fi)
• Korean: 가 (ko) (可)
• Polish: afirmatywa (pl) f (archaic)
• Spanish: sí (es) m
• Turkish: evet (tr)
• Ukrainian: за (uk) (za)

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eɪ/, (New Zealand) [æe̯]

Interjection

aye

1. (New Zealand) Alternative spelling of ay (question tag).

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aɪ/

Interjection

aye

1. Alternative spelling of ay: expressing anger, alarm, frustration, pain, etc.
   • 1799 [1793], W. A. [i.e., August Wilhelm] Iffland, anonymous translator, act III, in The Bachelors, a Comedy in Five Acts. […], London: […] J[ohn] W[alker] Myers, […] for R[obert] Pitkeathley, […] and W[illiam] West, […], →OCLC, page 51:

     Is it he?—no answer?—it is—it is! Reinhold, Reinhold, the base fiend drives thee by force! Aye, aye, aye! what nonsense it is!

     [original: Iſt’s der? Keine Antwort? — Er iſt’s! Reinhold? Reinhold’, der boͤſe Feind jagt dich parforce! Ey, ey, ey! Welch Skandal!]

   • 1925 spring, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, scene X, in David: A Play, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published 1926, →OCLC, page 69:

     jonathan: Oh, peace! Thou art all mischief, Michal, Thou shouldst be married to a Philistine, for his undoing. michal: Ayeee! This David has come back to trouble us! Why didst not thou slay the Philistine, Jonathan?

   • 2020 January 26, Anthony Colangelo, “[Roger] Federer survives another fright to make quarter-finals”, in The Age‎^[2], Melbourne, Vic., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 January 2020:

     "Aye, aye, aye," Federer said when he hit an uncharacteristically wayward shot when serving for the match, such were his comfort levels.

2. Used in aye aye.

Etymology 5

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eɪ/

Interjection

aye

1. (MLE, MTE, regional African-American Vernacular, Chicano) Alternative spelling of eh.

Anagrams

• yae, yea

Baba Malay

Etymology

From Malay air (“water”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aje/
• Hyphenation: a‧ye

Noun

ayé

1. water

References

• Lee, Nala H. (2022), “aye”, in A Grammar of Modern Baba Malay, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 343

Franco-Provençal

Noun

aye

1. plural of aya

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Betawi ayè. Doublet of saya.

Pronoun

aye

1. (Jakarta, colloquial) First-person singular pronoun: I, me, my

Synonyms

Other pronouns with the same meaning used in Jakarta:

• gue, ogut

Other pronouns with the same meaning used elsewhere:

• aku (informal)
• ku
• daku (poetic)
• saya (formal)
• gua, gw (Java)
• hamba

Isoko

Noun

aye (plural eyae)

1. dated spelling of ayị

Kerinci

Alternative forms

Alternative forms by dialect
Pondok Tinggi	ayai, ayei
Semerap	{{{smr}}}
Sungai Penuh	aye, ayei
Tanjung Pauh Mudik	{{{tpm}}}

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayic *air, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wahiʀ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈje/

Noun

aye

1. water

   gunounyo supayo aye idek tageneng tengoh lamang

   its purpose is so that water not to pool at the yard

References

• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*wahiR”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

Further reading

• Usman, A. Hakim (1985), “aye”, in Kamus Umum Kerinci—Indonesia, Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa.

Middle English

Noun

aye

1. alternative form of ey (“egg”)

Pagu

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈa.yɛ]

  • Audio:

    (file)

Verb

aye

1. to take

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aɪ/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse ei, ey, cognate with Old English ā. See the etymology for the English word above.

Alternative forms

• ay, ey

Adverb

aye (not comparable)

1. always, still

   A'll aye be wi ye an A'm nae carin whit thay sae.

   I'll always be with you and I don't care what they say.

   It'll aye be the same wi thaim thou.

   It'll still be the same with them though.

Etymology 2

Interjection

aye

1. yes; alternative form of ay

References

• “ay, adv.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• “ay, interj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
• “aye, adv.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

Spanish

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ˈaʝe/ [ˈa.ʝe]

• IPA^(key): /ˈaʝe/ [ˈa.ʝe] (everywhere but Argentina and Uruguay)
• IPA^(key): /ˈaʃe/ [ˈa.ʃe] (Buenos Aires and environs)
• IPA^(key): /ˈaʒe/ [ˈa.ʒe] (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)

• Rhymes: -aʝe
• Syllabification: a‧ye

Noun

aye m (plural ayes)

1. whine; whining; whinging

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English ay, from Old Norse ey.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eː/

Adverb

aye

1. ever
   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 116, lines 14-15:

     till ee zin o'oure daies be var aye be ee-go t'glade.

     until the sun of our lives (be for ever) be gone down the dark valley (of death).

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 116

Yoruba

Alternative forms

• ايعِ
• aiyé (archaic)

Etymology 1

Cognate with Edo aye

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ā.jé/

Noun

ayé

1. world
2. life

Derived terms

• aláyé
• ará ayé
• aráyé (“hunmankind”)
• Ayé
• ayé lọjà, ọ̀run nilé
• Ayédọgbọ́n
• Ayéfẹ́lẹ́
• Ayégbùsì
• Ayétòrò
• Ayéyẹmí
• ilé ayé (“world”)
• jayé (“to enjoy life”)
• jàde láyé (“to die”)
• Jáyésinmi
• láyé (“to be alive, in the world”)
• láyé àtijọ́ (“in the past, historically”)
• láéláé
• ṣayé
• wáyé (“to come into existence”)
• àgbáyé (“international, worldwide”)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /à.jè/

Noun

àyè

1. chance, opportunity

Derived terms

• ráyè (“to get the opportunity”)

Etymology 3

Alternative forms

• aè, àè

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ā.jè/, /à.jè/

Noun

àyè

1. (Ekiti) lies, falsehood

   Synonyms: irọ́, ụrọ́, èké

Derived terms

• ṣàyè (“to lie”)
• Ifáàláyè
• Fáláè
• Aóòláyè
• Ọbànị̀fọ̀nṣaè