Dey

/[ˈde(ː)]/ intj, name, noun, pron

Definitions

Intj
  1. 1
    An informal Tamil-language term of address used when trying to get someone's attention. Manglish, Singlish

    "Dey! Did you press the lift button? What? You have pressed the button for the tenth time?"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The tenth solar month of the Persian calendar.
  2. 2
    A surname.
Noun
  1. 1
    A servant who has charge of the dairy; a dairymaid. Scotland, UK, dialectal
  2. 2
    The ruler of the Regency of Algiers (now Algeria) under the Ottoman Empire. historical

    "[…] the reigning Dey of Algiers (half of whose twenty-eight predecessors are said to have met violent ends) lost his temper with the French consul, struck him in the face with a fly-whisk, and called him ‘a wicked, faithless, idol-worshipping rascal’."

Pronoun
  1. 1
    Pronunciation spelling of their, representing African-American Vernacular English. alt-of, pronunciation-spelling
  2. 2
    Pronunciation spelling of there, representing African American Vernacular English or Caribbean English. alt-of, pronunciation-spelling

    "“Boy, is horrors over dey, for so,” he said, obviously excited and anxious to be the bearer of extraordinary news. “Wat happen, somebody dead?”"

  3. 3
    Pronunciation spelling of they, representing dialects with th-stopping in English alt-of, pronunciation-spelling

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English deye, deie, daie, from Old English dǣġe (“maker of bread; baker; dairy-maid”), from Proto-West Germanic *daigijā, from Proto-Germanic *daigijǭ (“kneader of bread, maid”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to knead, form, build”). Cognate with Swedish deja, Icelandic deigja (“dairy-maid”); compare dairy, dough, lady.

Etymology 2

From French dey, from Algerian Arabic داي from Ottoman Turkish دایی (modern Turkish dayı).

Etymology 3

From Tamil டேய் (“hey!”).

Etymology 4

From Persian دی.

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