ey

ey · noun¹

1. Old Englishǣġ
2. Middle Englishey
3. English todayey

Inherited from Middle English ey, ei, from Old English ǣġ, from Proto-West Germanic *aij, from Proto-Germanic *ajją (“egg”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm (“egg”), probably from *h₂éwis (“bird”). 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.

ey · noun²

1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ékʷeh₂
2. Proto-Germanic*awjō
3. Proto-West Germanic*auwju
4. Old Englishīeġ
5. Middle Englishei
6. English todayey

Inherited from Middle English ei, i, ie, from Old English ēġ, īġ, īeġ, from Proto-West Germanic *auwju, from Proto-Germanic *awjō (“watery land, floodplain, island”), earlier *agwjō ~ *ahwjō (literally “(that which is) of the water”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ékʷeh₂ (“flowing water”) + *-yeh₂. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Äi, German Aue, Icelandic ey, Faroese oyggj, Swedish ö, Norwegian Bokmål øy, Norwegian Bokmål øy, Danish ø. Doublet of oe.

ey · pronoun³

Coined by Christine M. Elverson in 1975 by removing the "th" from they.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• dated since the 16th century An egg.