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ey

noun
/eɪ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English ei, ey, from Old English ǣġ, from Proto-West Germanic *aij, from Proto-Germanic *ajją (“egg”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm (“egg”), probably from *h₂éwis (“bird”), from *h₂ew- (“to consume”). Doublet of egg, huevo, oeuf, and ovum. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian ai (“egg”), Saterland Frisian Oai (“egg”), West Frisian aai, aei (“egg”), Bavarian Oa (“egg”), Dutch ei (“egg”), German Ei (“egg”), German Low German Ai, Ägg (“egg”), Limburgish ei, Éï (“egg”), Luxembourgish Ee (“egg”), Mòcheno oi (“egg”), Vilamovian e (“egg”), Yiddish איי (ey, “egg”), Danish æg (“egg”), Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk egg (“egg”), Swedish ägg (“egg”), Crimean Gothic ada (“egg”); also Breton vi (“egg”), Cornish oy (“egg”), Welsh wy (“egg”), Latin ōvum (“egg”), Greek αβγό (avgó), αυγό (avgó, “egg”), Albanian vo (“egg”), Belarusian and Russian яйцо́ (jajcó, “egg”), Bulgarian яйце́ (jajcé, “egg”), Czech vejce (“egg”), Macedonian јајце (jajce, “egg”), Polish jajo (“egg”), Serbo-Croatian ја́јце, jájce (“egg”), Slovak vajce (“egg”), Slovene jájce (“egg”), Ukrainian яйце́ (jajcé, “egg”), Ossetian айк (ajk), айкӕ (ajkæ, “egg”), Armenian ձու (ju, “egg”), Northern Kurdish hêk (“egg”), Southern Kurdish خا (xa, “egg”), Zazaki hak (“egg”), Pashto هګۍ (hagë́y), ويه (wë́ya, “egg”), Persian خاگ (xâg), خایه (xâye, “egg”). This native English form was displaced by the Old Norse–derived egg in the 16th century.

  1. inherited from *h₂ōwyóm✻ — “egg”
  2. inherited from *ajją✻ — “egg”
  3. inherited from *aij✻
  4. inherited from ǣġ
  5. inherited from ei

Definitions

  1. An egg.

  2. A gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, one of the so-called Spivak…

    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.

    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.

  3. A small island formed by the buildup of silt or gravel at the confluence of two rivers or…

    A small island formed by the buildup of silt or gravel at the confluence of two rivers or streams.

    • Runnymede Bridge is situated on an 'ey' – a small gravel islet close to the river bank.
  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. A place that has a name ending in "-ey" because it is or was located at such an island.

      • In Saxon the word ey meant peninsula as well as island, and there are plenty of other eys about —Langney and Hydeney and Horsey to wit, Chilly and Rickney and Northeye and Mountney.
      • Bermondsey, Stepney, Hackney; there are many of these 'eys' in London and they were all once islands, or higher, dryer points in the surrounding marshlands.

    2. Alternative form of hey.

      • JULIO. (Moves away.) No walking. I told you I’m not walking. / INES. You walked yesterday after the exercises. / JULIO. I can’t today. / INES. Then I’m going outside to smoke! / JULIO. Ey, don’t get angry!

    3. Obsolete form of eye.

    4. Initialism of Ernst & Young.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for ey. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA