Ay
adv, intj, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Alternative spelling of aye (“yes”). alt-of, alternative
"counting the ays and the noes in a vote"
- 2 Alternative form of a: the name of the Latin script letter A/a. alt-of, alternative
"It said, in a whispering, buzzing voice, "Gee-you-ess-ess-ay-dash-em-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-em-eye-en-gee-oh-dash-pee-eye-pee-dash-pee-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-pee-eye-en-gee-oh.""
- 3 Initialism of academic year. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
- 1 Always; ever; continually; for an indefinite time. Northern-England, Scotland, archaic, not-comparable, poetic
"O he that hath ay lived free, …"
- 1 Ah! alas! Expressing anger, alarm, frustration, pain, etc.
"And ſuch as yet, coulde neuer weapon wꝛeſt, / But on the lappe are woont to dandled be, / Ne yet foꝛgotten had the mothers bꝛeſt, / How greekes them ſlew, alas here ſhall ye ſe, / To make repoꝛte therof, ay woe is me, / My ſong is miſchiefe, murder miſerye."
- 2 Alternative spelling of aye (“yes”). alt-of, alternative
""Good morrow to thee, jolly fellow," quoth Robin; "thou seemest happy this merry morn." "Ay, that am I," quoth the jolly Butcher; "and why should I not be so?[…]""
- 3 New Zealand spelling of eh (question tag).
"For example, New Zealanders tended to say "ay" at the end of sentences, but in the Asian community people used different tags to check whether people were still listening."
- 4 All right (inter); hooray (inter); cool (inter).
- 5 Expressing earnestness, surprise, wonder, etc. Northern-England, Scotland
"Ay my word! I am glad to see you."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 Used in ay, ay.
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"I have lived my life on the sea. I have been through many a storm. I know what it is to be within a step of death — ay, nearer than a step."
Etymology
From Middle English ei, ej, ey, eye, ultimately imitative of the natural utterance, although probably also influenced by Anglo-Norman and Old French ahi, Old French haï, and Middle French aï, aïe, ay.
See aye.
From Middle English ai, from Old Norse ei, from Proto-Germanic *aiwaz (“eternity, age”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“vitality”); cognate with Old English ā, Ancient Greek ἀεί (aeí, “always”), and Latin aevum (“an age”).
Origin uncertain; possibly related to eh and hey; popularized by a catch phrase in a 1970s sitcom.
Related phrases
More for "ay"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.