fy

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See also: Fy, FY, -fy, and fy.

Translingual

Symbol

fy

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for West Frisian.

English

Interjection

fy

  1. Archaic form of fie.
    • 1828, James Hogg, Mary Burnet:
      "O fy, Andrew, how can ye say sae? How can ye doubt that it was in the Almighty's name?"

Anagrams

Norn

Alternative forms

  • (Orkney) fa

Etymology

From Old Norse faðir (father) , from Proto-Germanic *fadēr, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr. Compare Orcadian fa.

Noun

fy (definite singular feyrin or fyrin)

  1. (Shetland) father
    • c. 17th century, Hildina (source)
      Fy di yera da ov man dum
      father thou overdost thy manhood
      Nu Hildina on askar feyrin sien
      Now Hildina she asks her father
      hien mindi yagh inga forlskona bera fare kera fyrin min
      and sure I will not present any poisoned drink, to serve for my father

Norwegian Bokmål

Interjection

fy

  1. phew, shame; interjection expressing disapproval or disgust

Norwegian Nynorsk

Interjection

fy

  1. phew, shame; interjection expressing disapproval or disgust

Swedish

Pronunciation

Interjection

fy

  1. shame, phew, fie; interjection expressing disapproval, disgust, or outrage
    Fy!
    Don't do that! / That thing you did was bad! (often towards a child or pet or the like)
    Fy på dig!
    Fie on you! ("You have acted in a bad way!", often towards a child or pet or the like – less dated-sounding in Swedish)
    Fy så här stinker
    Phew, it stinks in here
    Nämen fy så hemskt!
    Oh no, that's terrible!
    Fy fan vilken hemsk situation
    Damn, what a horrible situation

Synonyms

(These take för instead of when directed against an individual. Forms without fan are euphemistic.)

Derived terms

References

Welsh

Alternative forms

  • 'y (colloquial)
  • 'm (chiefly literary, used after some prepositions, does not trigger mutation)

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *mene.

Pronunciation

  • (standard) IPA(key): /və/
    • (colloquial) IPA(key): /ən/, /n/, /ə/, /-/
  • Rhymes:

Determiner

fy (triggers nasal mutation of a following consonant)

  1. my
    Dyna fy nhad a fy nhad-cu.
    That's my father and my grandfather.

Pronoun

fy (triggers nasal mutation of a following consonant)

  1. me (as the direct object of a verbal noun)
    Byddant yn fy nghyflogi dros dro.
    They will employ me temporarily.

Usage notes

  • After the noun or verbnoun which fy precedes, i is often added. In formal language, this is done to emphasise the determiner or pronoun. In colloquial language, it is not necessarily an indicator of emphasis, and is often included with the determiner and always included with the pronoun. The exception to the latter case is in passive constructions employing cael, where i is never used.
  • In formal Welsh, contractions of fy include f' before vowel-initial words in poetic language and 'm after mostly functional vowel-final words.
  • In colloquial Welsh, another form of the word is used, namely yn /ən/. This begins with a vowel and usually triggers a nasal mutation hence has the tendency to be reduced variously in colloquial spelling and pronunciation as 'n /n/, y or 'y /ə/ or zero (the following mutation alone indicating its presence). This yn and its various forms usually trigger nasal mutation but may trigger soft mutation in some instances.
  • Pronomial fy can occur before any verbal noun. Before a verb, pronomial 'm is found only in literary language after certain vowel-final preverbal particles. See entry for 'm for more information.

Further reading

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “fy”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies