ey

See also: EY, -ey, -ey-, and eþ

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English ei, ey, from Old English ǣġ, from Proto-West Germanic *aij, from Proto-Germanic *ajją, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm. Doublet of egg and ovum.

This native English form was displaced by the Old Norse derived egg in the 16th century, most likely due to its clashing with the word eye, wherewith it had come to be a homonym.

Noun

ey (plural eyren)

(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, originally 1381, 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; […]

Related terms

Cockney

Etymology 2

Coined in 1975 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)

(rare, epicene, nonstandard) A gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, one of the so-called Spivak pronouns, equivalent to the singular they and 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, 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, 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 quotations using this term, see Citations:ey.

Synonyms

see Appendix:English third-person singular pronouns

Anagrams

YE, Ye, ye

Azerbaijani

Pronunciation

Audio (file)

Interjection

ey

Used to call someone's attention.

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/
Audio (file)

Interjection

ey

(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!

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)

island

Declension

declension of ey

	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
f-s1	singular		plural
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.

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English æġ, from Proto-West Germanic *aij, from Proto-Germanic *ajją, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm (“egg”). Doublet of egge.

Alternative forms

ay, aye, ei, eye, eyȝ
æȝ (early)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɛi̯/

Noun

ey (plural eyre or eyren)

egg (especially of a chicken or other fowl)
Synonym: eg

Descendants

English: ey

References

“ei, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old English īeġ, īg, from Proto-West Germanic *auwju, from Proto-Germanic *awjō (“floodplain; island”).

Alternative forms

ei, i, ie, y, ye

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɛi̯/, /iː/

Noun

ey

(Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) island

Descendants

English: ey

References

“ei, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

From Latin ei and Old French ahi, äi.

Alternative forms

ei, i, eygh, eyghe, ye

Interjection

ey

An exclamation of surprise, challenge, or inquiry.

Descendants

English: ay
Scots: ay, ae

References

“ei, interj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Adverb

ey

Alternative form of ay (“always”)

Noun

ey (plural eyen)

Alternative form of eye (“eye”)

Noun

ey (uncountable)

Alternative form of eye (“fear; awe”)
To have no ey for nought.
(please add an English translation of this usage example)
- c. 1470,, O lord omnipotent:
  Exhorting thy people to have a special ey, That thee to praise they never cease.
  (please add an English translation of this quote)

Verb

ey

to awe

Middle Welsh

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈe.ɨ/

Verb

ey

second-person singular present indicative of mynet

Old Norse

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ey̯/, [øy̯]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *aiwaz m, *aiwō f (“long time, age, eternity”), itself from Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu ~ *h₂yéws.

Adverb

ey

always, ever

Alternative forms

ei, æ

References

“ey1”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Etymology 2

From Proto-Germanic *awjō.

Noun

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

island

Declension

Declension of ey (strong jō-stem)

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

Descendants

Icelandic: ey f, eyja f
Faroese: oyggj f, oy f
Norwegian Nynorsk: øy
- Norwegian Bokmål: øy
Westrobothnian: öy, oi
Old Swedish: ø̄
- Swedish: ö c
Danish: ø c
- → English: oe
Gutnish: oy
→ English: -ey, -ay (in place names)
→ Old Irish: í f
- Irish: í f

References

“ey2”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Portuguese

Verb

ey

Obsolete spelling of hei

Somali

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ei/

Noun

èy m (plural éy or eyo f)

dog

Spanish

Alternative forms

hey

Etymology

Borrowed from English hey.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈei/ [ˈei̯]
Rhymes: -ei
Syllabification: ey

Interjection

¡ey!

hey!
Synonym: eh

Related terms

ah
oh
hala

Turkish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɛj/

Interjection

ey

The vocative particle, used for direct adress
Ey ahali! Anlatacaklarımı dikkatlice dinleyin!