pay

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See also: Pay and páy

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation[edit]

  • enPR: pā, IPA(key): /peɪ/, [pʰeɪ]
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪ

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English payen, from Old French paiier (“pay”), from Medieval Latin pācāre (“to settle, satisfy”) from Latin pācāre (“to pacify”). In this sense, displaced native Old English ġield (“pay”) and ġieldan (“to pay”), whence Modern English yield.

Verb[edit]

pay (third-person singular simple present pays, present participle paying, simple past and past participle paid or (obsolete) payed)

  1. (transitive) To give money or other compensation to in exchange for goods or services.
    he paid him to clean the place up
    he paid her off the books and in kind where possible
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:
      This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.
    • 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, OCLC 962368035, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:
      Admiral Hackett: You can pay a soldier to fire a gun. You can pay him to charge the enemy. But you can't pay him to believe.
    • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 48:
      The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […] and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.
  2. (transitive, intransitive) To discharge, as a debt or other obligation, by giving or doing what is due or required.
    she offered to pay the bill
    he has paid his debt to society
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Psalms 37:21:
      The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again.
    • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto)‎[1], London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], OCLC 236076664:
      The petty ſtreames that paie a dailie det / To their ſalt ſoveraigne with their freſh fals haſt, / Adde to his flowe, but alter not his taſt.
    • 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
      Yet in “Through a Latte, Darkly”, a new study of how Starbucks has largely avoided paying tax in Britain, Edward Kleinbard […] shows that current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate what he calls “stateless income”: […]. In Starbucks’s case, the firm has in effect turned the process of making an expensive cup of coffee into intellectual property.
  3. (transitive) To be profitable for.
    It didn't pay him to keep the store open any more.
  4. (transitive) To give (something else than money).
    to pay attention
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene i]:
      not paying me a welcome
    • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, OCLC 491297620, page 9:
      They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups.
  5. (intransitive) To be profitable or worth the effort.
    crime doesn’t pay
    it will pay to wait
  6. (intransitive) To discharge an obligation or debt.
    He was allowed to go as soon as he paid.
  7. (intransitive) To suffer consequences.
    He paid for his fun in the sun with a terrible sunburn.
  8. (transitive) To admit that a joke, punchline, etc., was funny.
    I'll pay that.
    • 1996, Jon Byrell, Lairs, Urgers and Coat-Tuggers, Sydney: Ironbark, page 294:
      Sutho took a pull at his Johnny Walker and Coke and laughed that trademark laugh of his and said: `Okay. I'll pay that all right.'
Conjugation[edit]
Conjugation of pay
infinitive (to) pay
present tense past tense
1st-person singular pay paid, payed†
2nd-person singular pay, payest† paid, paidest†, paidst†, payed†, payedst†
3rd-person singular pays, payeth† paid, payed†
plural pay
subjunctive pay paid, payed†
imperative pay —
participles paying paid, payed†

†Archaic or obsolete.

Hypernyms[edit]
Hyponyms[edit]
Hyponyms of pay (to give money)
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from pay (verb)
Related terms[edit]
Terms related to pay (verb)
Descendants[edit]
  • Sranan Tongo: paysa
  • → Scottish Gaelic: pàigh
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun[edit]

pay (countable and uncountable, plural pays)

  1. Money given in return for work; salary or wages.
    Many employers have rules designed to keep employees from comparing their pays.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

pay (not comparable)

  1. Operable or accessible on deposit of coins.
    pay toilet
  2. Pertaining to or requiring payment.
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Old French peier, from Latin picare (“to pitch”).

Verb[edit]

pay (third-person singular simple present pays, present participle paying, simple past and past participle payed)

  1. (nautical, transitive) To cover (the bottom of a vessel, a seam, a spar, etc.) with tar or pitch, or a waterproof composition of tallow, resin, etc.; to smear.
Translations[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Anguthimri[edit]

Noun[edit]

pay

  1. (Mpakwithi) forehead
  2. (Mpakwithi) face

References[edit]

  • Terry Crowley, The Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri (1981), page 187

Azerbaijani[edit]

Other scripts
Cyrillic пај
Perso-Arabic پای‎

Etymology[edit]

According to Nişanyan, from Persian پای‎ (pây, “foot”), with the sense ”share” originating from the Persian expression borrowed into Old Anatolian Turkish بای برابر‎ (pây-berâber, “equally, to the same proportion”, literally “equal foot”). The word is present in its modern sense in XIVth century Book of Dede Korkut.

The non-Oghuz Turkic cognates, such as Kirgiz and Yakut пай (pay, “share”) are, according to Nişanyan, a borrowing from the Ottoman Turkish پای‎, via Russian пай (paj).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pay (definite accusative payı, plural paylar)

  1. share
  2. portion

Declension[edit]

    Declension of pay
singular plural
nominative pay
 paylar
definite accusative payı
 payları
dative paya
 paylara
locative payda
 paylarda
ablative paydan
 paylardan
definite genitive payın
 payların
    Possessive forms of pay
nominative
singular plural
mənim (“my”) payım paylarım
sənin (“your”) payın payların
onun (“his/her/its”) payı payları
bizim (“our”) payımız paylarımız
sizin (“your”) payınız paylarınız
onların (“their”) payı or payları payları
accusative
singular plural
mənim (“my”) payımı paylarımı
sənin (“your”) payını paylarını
onun (“his/her/its”) payını paylarını
bizim (“our”) payımızı paylarımızı
sizin (“your”) payınızı paylarınızı
onların (“their”) payını or paylarını paylarını
dative
singular plural
mənim (“my”) payıma paylarıma
sənin (“your”) payına paylarına
onun (“his/her/its”) payına paylarına
bizim (“our”) payımıza paylarımıza
sizin (“your”) payınıza paylarınıza
onların (“their”) payına or paylarına paylarına
locative
singular plural
mənim (“my”) payımda paylarımda
sənin (“your”) payında paylarında
onun (“his/her/its”) payında paylarında
bizim (“our”) payımızda paylarımızda
sizin (“your”) payınızda paylarınızda
onların (“their”) payında or paylarında paylarında
ablative
singular plural
mənim (“my”) payımdan paylarımdan
sənin (“your”) payından paylarından
onun (“his/her/its”) payından paylarından
bizim (“our”) payımızdan paylarımızdan
sizin (“your”) payınızdan paylarınızdan
onların (“their”) payından or paylarından paylarından
genitive
singular plural
mənim (“my”) payımın paylarımın
sənin (“your”) payının paylarının
onun (“his/her/its”) payının paylarının
bizim (“our”) payımızın paylarımızın
sizin (“your”) payınızın paylarınızın
onların (“their”) payının or paylarının paylarının

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

Cebuano[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English pi, Ancient Greek πεῖ (peî).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • Hyphenation: pay

Noun[edit]

pay

  1. the name of the sixteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets and the seventeenth in Old Greek
  2. (mathematics) an irrational and transcendental constant representing the ratio of the circumference of a Euclidean circle to its diameter; approximately 3.14159265358979323846264338327950; usually written π

Jakaltek[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Mayan *pahar.

Noun[edit]

pay

  1. skunk

References[edit]

  • Church, Clarence; Church, Katherine (1955) Vocabulario castellano-jacalteco, jacalteco-castellano‎[2] (in Spanish), Guatemala C. A.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, pages 65; 39

Kalasha[edit]

Noun[edit]

pay

  1. A goat

Limos Kalinga[edit]

Adverb[edit]

pay

  1. too

Northern Kurdish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Turkish pay.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pay ?

  1. share

Old Portuguese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From padre, from Latin patrem, accusative singular of pater (“father”), from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pay m

  1. (hypocoristic, usually childish) papa, dad, father

Synonyms[edit]

Coordinate terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • Galician: pai
  • Portuguese: pai, pae; pay
    • Guinea-Bissau Creole: pai
    • Indo-Portuguese: pai
    • Kabuverdianu: pai
    • Kristang: pai
    • Sãotomense: pe
      • Annobonese: pe

Portuguese[edit]

Noun[edit]

pay m (plural pays)

  1. Obsolete spelling of pai

Quechua[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

pay

  1. he, she, it

See also[edit]

Quechua personal pronouns
singular plural
first-person ñuqa ñuqanchik (inclusive)
ñuqayku (exclusive)
second-person qam qamkuna
third-person pay paykuna

Spanish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English pie.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pay m (plural pays)

  1. (Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru) pie (food)

Derived terms[edit]

Tausug[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *pajay.

Noun[edit]

pāy

  1. rice (with husk)

Derived terms[edit]

Turkish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Turkic.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [paj]
  • Hyphenation: pay

Noun[edit]

pay (definite accusative payı, plural paylar)

  1. portion
  2. (arithmetic) numerator

Declension[edit]

Inflection
Nominative pay
Definite accusative payı
Singular Plural
Nominative pay paylar
Definite accusative payı payları
Dative paya paylara
Locative payda paylarda
Ablative paydan paylardan
Genitive payın payların
Possessive forms
Nominative
Singular Plural
1st singular payım paylarım
2nd singular payın payların
3rd singular payı payları
1st plural payımız paylarımız
2nd plural payınız paylarınız
3rd plural payları payları
Definite accusative
Singular Plural
1st singular payımı paylarımı
2nd singular payını paylarını
3rd singular payını paylarını
1st plural payımızı paylarımızı
2nd plural payınızı paylarınızı
3rd plural paylarını paylarını
Dative
Singular Plural
1st singular payıma paylarıma
2nd singular payına paylarına
3rd singular payına paylarına
1st plural payımıza paylarımıza
2nd plural payınıza paylarınıza
3rd plural paylarına paylarına
Locative
Singular Plural
1st singular payımda paylarımda
2nd singular payında paylarında
3rd singular payında paylarında
1st plural payımızda paylarımızda
2nd plural payınızda paylarınızda
3rd plural paylarında paylarında
Ablative
Singular Plural
1st singular payımdan paylarımdan
2nd singular payından paylarından
3rd singular payından paylarından
1st plural payımızdan paylarımızdan
2nd plural payınızdan paylarınızdan
3rd plural paylarından paylarından
Genitive
Singular Plural
1st singular payımın paylarımın
2nd singular payının paylarının
3rd singular payının paylarının
1st plural payımızın paylarımızın
2nd plural payınızın paylarınızın
3rd plural paylarının paylarının

Synonyms[edit]

Antonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

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