gay

gay

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of gay in English

English Online Dictionary. What means gay‎? What does gay mean?

Translingual

Symbol

gay

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Gayo.

See also

  • Wiktionary's coverage of Gayo terms

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: gā, IPA(key): /ɡeɪ/
  • Rhymes: -eɪ

Etymology 1

From Middle English gay, from Old French gai (“joyful, laughing, merry”), usually thought to be a borrowing of Old Occitan gai (“impetuous, lively”), from Gothic *𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*gaheis, “impetuous”), merging with earlier Old French jai ("merry"; see jay), from Frankish *gāhi; both from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden”). This is possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- (“to stride, step”), from *ǵʰēy- (“to go”), but Kroonen rejects this derivation and treats the Germanic word as having no known etymology.

Adjective

gay (comparative gayer, superlative gayest)

  1. Homosexual:
    1. (of a person) Possessing sexual and/or romantic attraction towards people one perceives to be the same sex or gender as oneself. [from 1950]
      • 1947, Rorschach Research Exchange and Journal of Projective Techniques[3], page 240:
      • 2007, Kevin P. Murphy, Jason Ruiz, David Serlin, Queer Futures, Radical History Review (Duke University Press), page 58:
        The two failed attempts to receive the necessary access to medicalized transition procedures by the renowned FTM activist Lou Sullivan—a gay man who refused to comply with the imperative that transsexual men must desire women— […]
    2. (strictly) Describing a homosexual man.
    3. (of an animal, by extension) Tending to partner or mate with other individuals of the same sex.
    4. (of a romantic or sexual act or relationship) Between two or more persons perceived to be of the same sex or gender as each other.
    5. (colloquial) Not heterosexual, or not cisgender: homosexual, bisexual, asexual, transgender, etc.
      Coordinate term: LGBTQ
    6. (of an institution or group) Intended for gay people, especially gay men.
    7. (slang, with for) Homosexually in love with someone.
    8. (slang, humorous, with for) Infatuated with something, aligning with homosexual stereotypes.
    9. In accordance with stereotypes of homosexual people:
      1. (loosely, of appearance or behavior) Being in accordance with stereotypes of gay people, especially gay men.
      2. (loosely, of a person, especially a man) Exhibiting appearance or behavior that accords with stereotypes of gay people, especially gay men.
  2. A pejorative:
    1. (slang, derogatory) Effeminate or flamboyant in behavior.
    2. (slang, derogatory) Used to express dislike: lame, uncool, stupid, burdensome, contemptible, generally bad.
      Synonym: ghey
      • 1996, Lisa's Date With Density, The Simpsons (cartoon television series). Upon discovering Nelson kissing Lisa:
        Dolph: "Oh, man! You kissed a girl!"
        Jimbo: "That is so gay!"
  3. (dated) Happy, joyful, and lively.
    • c. 1692, William Walch, preface to Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant, in John Dryden, The Fourth Part of Miſcellany Poems, Jacob Tonson (publisher, 1716), page 338:
    • 1934, George Marion Jr. et al., (title):
  4. (dated) Quick, fast.
  5. (dated) Festive, bright, or colourful.
    Pennsylvania Dutch include the plain folk and the gay folk.
    • 1881, J. P. McCaskey (editor), “Deck the Hall[sic]”, Franklin Square Song Collection, number 1, Harper & Brothers (New York), page 120:
    • 1944, Ralph Blane, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, Meet Me in St. Louis, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
  6. (obsolete) Sexually promiscuous (of any gender), (sometimes particularly) engaged in prostitution.
    • 1806 (edition of 1815), John Davis, The Post-Captain, page 150:
      As our heroes passed along the Strand, they were accosted by a hundred gay ladies, who asked them if they were good-natured. "Devil take me!" exclaimed Echo, "if I know which way my ship heads; but there is not a girl in the Strand that I would touch with my gloves on."
  7. (of a dog's tail) Upright or curved over the back.
  8. (Scotland, Northern England, possibly obsolete) Considerable, great, large in number, size, or degree. In this sense, also in the variant gey.
    • 1876 (edition; original 1871), Richardson, Talk 1:
      A gay deal different to what I is noo.
    • 1881, Dixon, Craven Dales:
      There were a gay bit of lace on it.
Usage notes
  • The predominant use of gay in recent decades has been in the sense homosexual, or in the pejorative sense. The earlier uses of festive, colorful and bright are still found, especially in literary contexts; however, this usage has fallen out of fashion and is now likely to be misunderstood by those who are unaware of it.
  • Gay is preferred to homosexual by many gay (homosexual) people as their own term for themselves. Some claim that homosexual is dated and evokes a time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness by the mental health community, while others feel that the word homosexual(ity) does not express the emotional aspects of sexual orientation.
  • In the broad political sense, gay usually refers to anything pertaining to same-sex relationships, whether male or female: gay rights and gay marriage. When used in coordination with other terms for sexual orientations, it usually specifically refers to men who are attracted only to men, and excludes lesbians, bisexuals and other orientations, as in phrases like lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB). Context is sometimes necessary to determine whether or not gay implies male in a given phrase.
  • Since at least the 1950s, gay has sometimes been used as a broad umbrella term for all queer and gender-nonconforming (transgender and genderqueer/non-binary) people, similar to LGBTQ.
Synonyms
  • (homosexual): See Thesaurus:homosexual
Derived terms
sexual sense
other senses
Related terms
  • jay
Descendants
Translations


Noun

gay (plural gays)

  1. (now chiefly in the plural) A homosexual, especially a male homosexual.
    Coordinate term: lesbian
  2. (dialectal, obsolete) Something which is bright or colorful, such as a picture or a flower.
    • a. 1900, W. R. Eaton of Norfolk, quoted in 1900, Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary:
      There's a good child; look at the gays, and keep quiet.
  3. (obsolete) An ornament, a knick-knack.
    • 1906, Cornish Notes & Queries: (first Series) (Cornish Telegraph, Peter Penn), page 132:
      If however the stranger be suspected of “sailing under false colours," when they are all in familiar chat about nothing in particular, “Cousin Jacky” will take occasion to say to the new chum, “My dear; ded 'e ever see a duck clunk a gay?" […] no more deceived by him than a duck can be made to clunk (swallow) a gay (fragment of broken crockery).
Usage notes
  • Gay may be regarded as offensive when used as a noun to refer to particular individuals.
  • Gay is sometimes used broadly to refer to any man who is attracted to and/or sexually active with other men, or any woman attracted to or active with other women, even if not exclusively, e.g. if their orientation is in fact bisexual.
Synonyms
  • see Thesaurus:homosexual person and Thesaurus:male homosexual
Derived terms
  • (gay person): A-gay, baby gay, ex-gay, gay bashing, gold star gay, homogay, stage gay
  • (colorful object or flower; ornament): nosegay
Translations

Verb

gay (third-person singular simple present gays, present participle gaying, simple past and past participle gayed)

  1. (transitive, dated, uncommon) To make happy or cheerful. [since at least the 1920s]
  2. (transitive, uncommon) To cause (something, e.g. AIDS) to be associated with homosexual people. [popularized in the 1990s]
Related terms
  • de-gay
  • re-gay

Adverb

gay

  1. (Scotland, Northern England) Considerably, very.
    • 1892-3, Mrs. Humphry Ward, The History of David Grieve, volume I, page 19:
      She'll mak naw moor mischeef neets—she's gay quiet now!
References
  • Eric Partridge (2005) “gay”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 1 (A–I), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 845.
  • Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “GAY”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.

Etymology 2

From Pitman kay, which it is derived from graphically, and the sound it represents. The traditional name gee was considered inappropriate, as the Pitman letter never has the sound of that name.

Noun

gay (plural gays)

  1. The letter —, which stands for the sound /ɡ/, in Pitman shorthand.
Related terms
  • gee (in Latin script)

Anagrams

  • YAG

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from English gay. Doublet of 基 (jī).

Pronunciation

Noun

gay

  1. gay; gay man (Classifier: 個／个)

Derived terms

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from English gay.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈɡɛj]
  • Hyphenation: gay

Noun

gay m anim

  1. gay male
    Synonyms: (vulgar) bukvice, buzík, buzerant, buzna, homokláda; (colloquial, derogatory) homouš, teplouš; (mostly neutral) homosexuál

Declension

Further reading

  • “gay”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)

Finnish

Etymology

From English gay.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡei̯/, [ˈɡe̞i̯]
  • Rhymes: -ei

Noun

gay (colloquial)

  1. gay

Usage notes

  • Seldom inflected, as this term does not readily fit into Finnish inflection patterns. Instead, corresponding forms of synonymous expressions or compounds such as gay-mies (“gay man”) or gay-poika (“gay boy”) are used.

Declension

Synonyms

  • homo

Further reading

  • “gay”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎[10] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English gay, itself a borrowing from French gai. Doublet of gai.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡɛ/
  • (Canada) IPA(key): /ɡe/
  • Homophones: gai, gaie, gaies, gais, gays, guet, guets
  • Rhymes: -ɛ

Noun

gay m (plural gays)

  1. gay (homosexual person)

Gamilaraay

Etymology

Snake tracks were carefully avoided as treading on one was thought to cause skin sores. The cart tracks of the early European explorer Mitchell were thought to be giant snake tracks.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡaj/

Noun

gay

  1. snake track

References

  • Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay Yuwaalayaay Dictionary 2003

German

Etymology

Borrowed from English gay.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ɡɛɪ̯]

Adjective

gay (strong nominative masculine singular gayer, not comparable)

  1. gay
    Synonym: schwul

Further reading

  • “gay” in Duden online
  • “gay” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Indonesian

Etymology

From English gay, from Middle English gay, from Old French gai (“joyful, laughing, merry”), usually thought to be a borrowing of Old Occitan gai (“impetuous, lively”), from Gothic *𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*gaheis, “impetuous”), merging with earlier Old French jai (“"merry"”), from Frankish *gāhi, both from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden”). This is possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- (“to stride, step”), from *ǵʰēy- (“to go”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡay/
  • Hyphenation: gay

Noun

gay

  1. gay: homosexual: being between two or more men.

Further reading

  • “gay” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Interlingua

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡeɪ/

Adjective

gay (comparative plus gay, superlative le plus gay)

  1. (LGBTQ, sexuality) gay

Noun

gay (plural gays)

  1. gay

Synonyms

  • homine gay
  • persona gay

See also

  • gai (merry)

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English gay.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡɛj/, /ˈɡej/
  • Rhymes: -ɛj, -ej

Adjective

gay (invariable)

  1. gay

Noun

gay m or f by sense

  1. gay

References

Further reading

  • gay in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Lombard

Etymology

Borrowed from English gay.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡei/, [ɡɛj], [ɡeːi]

Adjective

gay m

  1. gay, male homosexual.

Noun

gay m

  1. gay, male homosexual

Related terms

  • omosessual
  • oregjon

Maguindanao

Etymology

Akin to Maranao gawi'i.

Noun

gay

  1. day

Manx

Noun

gay f

  1. Eclipsed form of kay.

Mutation

Matal

Pronunciation

IPA(key): [ɡáj]

Noun

gay

  1. mouth
  2. language
  3. beginning

References

Middle Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɣaːi/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French gai.

Adjective

gay

  1. cheerful, happy
Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms
  • gaey
Descendants
  • Dutch: gei, gaai

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old Northern French gai, from Late Latin gaius, from the Roman name Latin Gaius. Also see Spanish gaya and urraca.

Noun

gay m

  1. jay
  2. parrot
Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms
  • gai
Descendants
  • Dutch: gaai

Further reading

  • Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “gay (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I
  • Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “gay (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French gai.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡɛi̯/

Adjective

gay

  1. joyous, merry
    • 1405 Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Canterbury Tales (source):

Descendants

  • English: gay
  • Yola: gaaye, gaay, gay, gai

References

  • “gai, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Middle French

Etymology

Variant of Old French gai, borrowed from Old Occitan gai, possibly of Germanic origin, or from Latin vagus.

Adjective

gay m (feminine singular gaye, masculine plural gays, feminine plural gayes)

  1. cheerful; happy; gay

Descendants

  • French: gai

Portuguese

Alternative forms

  • guei (adapted spelling)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English gay. Doublet of gaio.

Pronunciation

  • Homophone: guei

Adjective

gay m or f (plural gays)

  1. gay
    1. homosexual (involving or relating to same-sex relationships, especially between males)
      Synonyms: homossexual, (slang, derogatory) bicha, (Brazil, slang, derogatory) veado
    2. (figurative, slang) overly sentimental
    3. (figurative, slang) effeminate or flamboyant

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:gay.

Derived terms

  • kit gay

Noun

gay m or f by sense (plural gays)

  1. gay; homosexual (person attracted to others of the same sex), especially a male homosexual
    Synonyms: homossexual, (slang, derogatory) bicha, (Brazil, slang, derogatory) veado
  2. (slang, derogatory) a person who lame, stupid or shows any other unpleasant characteristics

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:gay.

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English gay.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ɡej]

Adjective

gay m or f or n (indeclinable)

  1. gay

Declension

Scots

Adverb

gay

  1. fairly, considerably

Sori-Harengan

Noun

gay

  1. water

References

  • Blust's Austronesian Comparative Dictionary

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English gay.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡei/ [ˈɡei̯]
    • Rhymes: -ei
  • IPA(key): /ˈɡai/ [ˈɡai̯]
    • Rhymes: -ai
    • Syllabification: gay

Adjective

gay m or f (masculine and feminine plural gays or gais)

  1. gay, homosexual

Derived terms

Noun

gay m or f by sense (plural gays or gais)

  1. a homosexual person, gay person

Usage notes

  • The Real Academia Española recommends the plural form gais for both the adjective and the noun, but gays is much more common.

References

Further reading

  • “gay”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Swedish

Adjective

gay (comparative mer gay, superlative mest gay)

  1. (only used predicatively) gay, homosexual
    Synonyms: homosexuell, (male, possibly offensive) bög, lesbisk, (female, possibly offensive) lebb, (female, possibly offensive) flata

Derived terms

  • gaysex

References

  • gay in Svensk ordbok (SO)
  • gay in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
  • Fula Ordboken

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ɣaj˧˧]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [ɣaj˧˧]
  • (Saigon) IPA(key): [ɣa(ː)j˧˧]

Adjective

gay • (咳, 垓, 荄)

  1. difficult; hard

Derived terms

Yola

Adjective

gay

  1. Alternative form of gaaye

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 128

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This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.