ey

See also: EY, -ey, -ey-, and eþ

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ei, ey, from Old English ǣġ ("egg"; ǣġru in the plural), from Proto-Germanic *ajją, *ajjaz (“egg”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm (“egg”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Oai (“egg”), West Frisian aai (“egg”), Dutch ei (“egg”), German Low German Ei (“egg”), German Ei (“egg”), Danish æg (“egg”), Swedish ägg (“egg”), Icelandic egg (“egg”), Scottish Gaelic ugh (“egg”), Latin ōvum (“egg”). Was displaced by egg in the 16th century, most likely due to its clashing with the word "eye", with which it had come to be a homonym.

Noun

ey (plural eyren)

1. (obsolete) An egg. [dated since the 16th century]
   • 1490, William Caxton, Prologue to Eneydos:

     And one of theym... cam in to an hows and axed for mete and specyally he axyd after eggys, and the goode wyf answerde that she could speke no Frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry, for he also coude speke no Frenshe, but wolde have hadde egges; and she understode hym not. And thenne at laste a-nother sayd that he wolde have eyren. Then the good wyf sayd that she understod hym wel. Loo, what sholde a man in thyse dayes now wryte, egges, or eyren? Certaynly it is hard to playse every man, by-cause of dyversite and chaunge of langage.

   • 1787, Liber quotidianus contrarotulatoris garderobae:

     Take brothe of capons withoute herbes, and breke eyren, and cast into the pot, and make a crudde therof, and colour hit with saffron, and then presse oute the brothe and kerve it on leches; and then take swete creme of almondes, or of cowe mylk, and boyle hit; […]

Derived terms

• Cockney

Etymology 2

From Middle English eye, eie, eȝe (“fear, terror”), from Old English eġe (“fear, terror”), from Proto-Germanic *agaz (“fear, dread”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʰ- (“to be depressed, afraid”). In all southern and most northern dialects merged with awe completely. See also beseek and beseech; thrack and thrutch; give and yive; streek and stretch.

Noun

ey (uncountable)

1. (obsolete, regional, rare) Fear, terror.

   To have no ey for nought.

   • c1470, O lord omnipotentː

     Exhorting thy people to have a special ey, That thee to praise they never cease.

2. (obsolete, regional, rare) A feeling of fear and reverence.

Verb

ey (third-person singular simple present eys, present participle eying, simple past and past participle eyed)

1. (obsolete, regional, rare) To awe.

References

• The Middle English Dictionary

Etymology 3

Compare eyot.

Noun

ey (plural eys)

1. An island.

Etymology 4

Coined by Christine M. Elverson by removing the "th" from they.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ā, IPA^(key): /eɪ/
• Homophone: a
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Pronoun

ey (third-person singular, nominative case, accusative em, possessive adjective eir, possessive noun eirs, reflexive emself)

1. (neologism, epicene) they (singular). Gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, coordinate with gendered pronouns he and she.
   • 1975 August 23, Black, Judie, “Ey has a word for it”, in Chicago Tribune, 1, page 12:

     Eir sentences would sound smoother since ey wouldn't clutter them with the old sexist pronouns. And if ey should trip up in the new usage, ey would only have emself to blame.

   • 1996 December 22, Worth, Shirley, “New To Yoga”, in alt.yoga, Usenet‎^[1], message-ID <32BDCA0C.6C8@worth.org>:

     I'm not familiar with this book, but I encourage Marksmill to look for it-- and while ey is at it, to also look at a number of other books.

   • 1997 November 25, Dawson, Scott Robert, “Who Pays for Cellular Calls”, in alt.cellular, Usenet‎^[2], message-ID <347acf56.333719@news.interlog.com>:

     If a mobile user is far from eir home area, ey will pay a long-distance fee for carriage of the call *from* eir home area, just as a caller would pay long-distance on a call *to* that area.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:ey.

Synonyms

• he/she, s/he, (s)he
• (singular) they
• (neologism) e, sie, shi, ze

Coordinate terms

• he, she

See also

• other attested and proposed gender-neutral pronouns
• suffix -ey

Anagrams

• YE, Ye, ye

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German

Etymology

From Middle High German ei, a common interjection. In contemporary German possibly reinforced by Turkish ey (“vocative particle”), English hey.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛɪ̯/

Interjection

ey

1. (colloquial) used to call someone’s attention

   Ey Peter, komm mal kucken, was hier auf dem Schild steht!

   Hey Peter, come and see what it says on this sign!

See also

• ei

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Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse ey, from Proto-Germanic *awjō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eiː/
• Rhymes: -eiː

  Homophones: ei, Ey

Noun

ey f (genitive singular eyjar, nominative plural eyjar)

1. island

Declension

declension of ey

f-s1	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ey	eyin	eyjar	eyjarnar
accusative	ey	eyna	eyjar	eyjarnar
dative	ey	eynni	eyjum	eyjunum
genitive	eyjar	eyjarinnar	eyja	eyjanna

The dative singular eyju/eyjunnar also occurs, but is on its own indistinguishable from the dative of the weak form eyja.

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Middle English

Noun

ey (plural eyer or eyren)

1. Alternative form of ei

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Middle Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈe.ɨ/

Verb

ey

1. second-person singular present indicative of mynet

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Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *awjō.

Noun

ey f (genitive eyjar, dative eyju, plural eyjar)

1. island

Declension

  Declension of ey (strong jō-stem)

feminine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	ey	eyin	eyjar	eyjarnar
accusative	ey	eyina	eyjar	eyjarnar
dative	ey, eyju	eynni, eyjunni	eyjum	eyjunum
genitive	eyjar	eyjarinnar	eyja	eyjanna

Descendants

• Icelandic: ey
• Faroese: oyggj, oy
• Norwegian:

  Norwegian Bokmål: øy

  Norwegian Nynorsk: øy

• Old Swedish: ø̄
  • Swedish: ö
• Danish: ø
  • → English: oe
• Gutnish: oy
• Westrobothnian: öy, oi
• → English: -ey, -ay (in place names)

References

• ey in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

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Portuguese

Verb

ey

1. Obsolete spelling of hei

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Somali

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ei/

Noun

èy m (plural éy or eyo f)

1. dog