hay

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: hā, IPA^(key): /heɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: hey
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Etymology 1

From Middle English hey, from Old English hīeġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hawi, from Proto-Germanic *hawją (compare West Frisian hea, Dutch hooi, German Heu, Norwegian høy), from *hawwaną (“to hew, cut down”). More at hew.

Noun

hay (countable and uncountable, plural hays)

1. (uncountable) Grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder.
   • 1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, , London: G E for Simon Waterson, →OCLC:

     Make hay while sunne shines.

   • 1857, Charles Louis Flint, Grasses and Forage Plants: A Practical Treatise, :

     Hay may be dried too much as well as too little.

2. (countable) Any mix of green leafy plants used for fodder.
3. (slang) Cannabis; marijuana.
   • 1947, William Burroughs, letter, 19 Feb 1947:

     I would like some of that hay. Enclose $20.

   • 1994, “Bug Powder Dust”, performed by Bomb the Bass:

     Jeff Spicoli, roll me another hay

4. A net set around the haunt of an animal, especially a rabbit.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• hay on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

hay (third-person singular simple present hays, present participle haying, simple past and past participle hayed)

1. To cut grasses or herb plants for use as animal fodder.
2. To lay snares for rabbits.

Translations

See also

• bale
• straw

Etymology 2

From Middle English haye, heye, a conflation of Old English heġe (“hedge, fence”) and Old English ġehæġ (“an enclosed piece of land”).

Noun

hay (plural hays)

1. (obsolete) A hedge.
2. (obsolete) A net placed around the lair or burrow of an animal.
3. (obsolete) An enclosure, haw.
4. (obsolete) A circular country dance.
   • 1594 (first publication), Christopher Marlow[e], The Trovblesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edvvard the Second, King of England: , London: for Henry Bell, , published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     My men like Satyres grazing on the lawnes,
     Shall with their Goate feete daunce an antick hay,

   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     I’ll make one in a dance, or so; or I will play
     On the tabour to the Worthies, and let them dance the hay.

Etymology 3

From the sound it represents, by analogy with other letters such as kay and gay. The expected form in English if the h had survived in the Latin name of the letter "h", hā.

Noun

hay (plural hays)

1. The letter for the h sound in Pitman shorthand.

Related terms

• aitch, the Latin letter for this sound

Further reading

• Hay (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

See also

• yeet hay

Anagrams

• AYH, YHA, Yah, yah

Lushootseed

Alternative forms

• haya

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /haɪ/

Verb

hay

1. to know

Malagasy

Etymology 1

Interjection

hay

1. truly!, indeed!

Etymology 2

Participle

hay

1. possible
2. known

Etymology 3

Noun

hay

1. (dialectal) burning

Etymology 4

Adjective

hay

1. (of land) exposed, bare

Etymology 5

Noun

hay

1. (Tankarana) an insect which damages rice crops

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

hay (plural hayes)

1. Alternative form of haye (“net”)

Etymology 2

Interjection

hay

1. Alternative form of hey (“hey”)

Etymology 3

Noun

hay (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of hey (“hay”)

Etymology 4

Pronoun

hay

1. Alternative form of he (“they”)

Etymology 5

Noun

hay

1. Alternative form of heye (“hedge”)

Etymology 6

Verb

hay

1. Alternative form of haven (“to have”)

Middle French

Verb

hay

1. first-person singular present indicative of hayr

Old Galician-Portuguese

Alternative forms

• hai, ai, ay

Etymology

From ha + y, "there is".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Verb

hay

1. (impersonal, Galicia) there is, there are
   • 1370, Ramón Lorenzo, editor, Crónica Troiana, page 533:

     Et moytas uegadas cõteçe que hay algũus que nõ catã senõ porlo que he sua prol

     And many times it happens that there are some than don't care but for their own interest

Descendants

• Galician: hai

Further reading

• “aver” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “hay ” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.

Somali

Verb

hay

1. to hold, have

Spanish

Etymology

From Old Spanish ha ý (“it has there”) (compare Catalan hi ha and French il y a), from ha, third-person singular present of aver (“to have”), + ý (locative pronoun, compare modern French y and Catalan hi), from Latin ibī (“there”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈai/

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ai
• Syllabification: hay
• Homophone: ay

Verb

hay

1. third-person singular present indicative of haber

   there is, there are

   Hay dos tiendas que venden películas.

   There are two stores that sell films.

Derived terms

Tagalog

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /haj/,

Etymology 1

Compare Hokkien 害矣 (hāi--ah).

Interjection

hay (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜌ᜔)

1. Alternative form of ay
2. an expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, frustration, or the like: sigh

   Hay... Antok na ako!

   Sigh... I'm sleepy already!

Derived terms

• hay naku

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English high.

Adjective

hay (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜌ᜔)

1. (slang) high on drugs; drugged

   Synonyms: sabog, basag, bogsa

Etymology 3

Noun

hay (Baybayin spelling ᜑᜌ᜔) (obsolete)

1. act of frighting or startling a dog

Derived terms

Further reading

• “hay”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key):
• (Huế) IPA^(key):
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key):

Etymology 1

Cognate with Arem hɪː ("to understand").

Verb

hay • (咍, 𫨩, 台, 能)

1. (archaic or literary) to know; to get to know; to learn
   • 15th century, Nguyễn Trãi, “歸崑山重九偶作 Quy côn sơn trùng cửu ngẫu tác”, in Quốc âm thi tập (國音詩集):

     𣈜恪咍兠群役恪
     節冷馬女底朱戈

     Ngày khác hay đâu còn việc khác,
     Tiết lành mựa nỡ để cho qua.

     Who knows on a different day if I would be busy or not,
     I would rather not miss out on this nice weather .

   • 1820, Nguyễn Du (阮攸), Đoạn trường tân thanh (Truyện Kiều)‎:

     𬖉𦋦𦰟𦹵𦲿核
     𧡊囂囂𱢻時能姉𧗱

     Trông ra ngọn cỏ lá cây,
     Thấy hiu hiu gió thì hay chị về.

     And when you look outside, to where the grass and leaves are,
     And if you see them sway in the light breeze, then you know that I, your sister, will come home soon.

   • 2018 January 22, Viễn Sự, Sơn Lâm, “Trẻ con lai ở miền Tây: Con không cha như nhà không nóc ”, in Tuổi Trẻ Online‎:

     Hồi mẹ nó ẵm về nước, bà nội nó nói mua cho cái vé khứ hồi, tới hồi ra sân bay về lại Hàn Quốc thì mới hay cái vé đi có một chiều.

     When his mother carried him in her arms back to Vietnam, his paternal grandmother said they had bought a return ticket for her, but she realised it was only a one-way ticket when she was at the airport, trying to return to Korea.

2. (‘hay’ + verb) to have a habit of (doing something)

   Ai hay vẽ rồi sẽ vẽ hay.

   Who draws habitually will draw well.

   Con hay nói nhiều lắm.

   You, child, have a habit of talking too much / You, child, are talkative.

Usage notes

• The sense of “to know” is now mostly used in fixed expressions, such as đến đâu hay đến đó and cho hay (“to inform”), in the non-literary language.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Adjective

hay • (咍, 𫨩, 台)

1. good, as in useful, inventive, interesting or entertaining; compare tốt (good as in high-quality, skillful or ethical)

   Antonyms: dở, tệ, tồi

   ý hay ― a good idea

   Phim hay quá ha !

   That was a great movie!

Derived terms

Adverb

hay • (𫨩)

1. well

   Antonyms: dở, tệ, tồi

   Ai hay vẽ rồi sẽ vẽ hay.

   Who draws habitually will draw well.

Etymology 3

Conjunction

hay • (咍, 台, 能)

1. or

   Chọn cái này, hay chọn cái kia

   Choose this one, or choose that one

   • 1820, Nguyễn Du (阮攸), Đoạn trường tân thanh (Truyện Kiều)‎:

     吏輸妸李半命能牢

     Lại thua ả Lý bán mình hay sao?

     Could I fall short of Lady Li, who sold herself?

Derived terms

See also

• hoặc

Walloon

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /haj/

Interjection

hay

1. go, let us go

Yola

Pronoun

hay

1. Alternative form of hea (“he”)
   • 1927, “LAMENT OF A WIDOW”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 130, line 6:

     "Hay was mee gude plowere,

     "He was my good plougher,

   • 1927, “YOLA ZONG O BARONY VORTH”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 132, line 4:

     Fan Buckeen hay pooked lik own thing mad.

     When Buckeen he jumped like a thing mad.

   • 1927, “YOLA ZONG O BARONY VORTH”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 132, line 7:

     Wi spur upa heel hay gaed him a goad,

     With a spur on his heel, he gave him a goad,

   • 1927, “PAUDEEN FOUGHLAAN'S WEDDEEN”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 133, line 3:

     Shu bin vrem Vorth, an hay vrem Bargee,

     She being from Forth and he from Bargy;

   • 1927, “PAUDEEN FOUGHLAAN'S WEDDEEN”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 133, line 5:

     Yola Vather Deruse hay raree cam thoare,

     Old Father Devereux (he) early came there,

   • 1927, “PAUDEEN FOUGHLAAN'S WEDDEEN”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 133, line 6:

     Wi buke an wi candale hay tackled a paare.

     With book and with candle he tackled the pair;

References

• Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 130