hay

hay · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hawją
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hawi
3. Old English · inherited fromhīeġ
4. Middle English · inherited fromhey
5. English todayhay

From Middle English hey, from Old English hīeġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hawi, from Proto-Germanic *hawją, from *hawwaną (“to hew, cut down”). Cognate with West Frisian hea (“hay”), Alemannic German Heuw (“hay”), Cimbrian höobe (“hay”), Dutch hooi (“hay”), German Heu (“hay”), Luxembourgish Hee (“hay”), Mòcheno hei (“hay”), Yiddish היי (hey, “hay”), Danish hø (“hay”), Faroese hoyggj (“hay”), Gutnish hoy (“hay”), Icelandic hey (“hay”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk høy (“hay”), Swedish hö (“hay”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍅𐌹 (hawi, “grass, hay”). More at hew.

hay · noun²

1. Old English · inherited fromġehæġ“an enclosed piece of land”
2. Old English · inherited fromheġe“hedge, fence”
3. Middle English · inherited fromhaye
4. English todayhay

From Middle English haye, heye, a conflation of Old English heġe (“hedge, fence”) and Old English ġehæġ (“an enclosed piece of land”).

hay · noun³

From the sound it represents, by analogy with other letters such as kay and gay. The expected form in English if the h had survived in the Latin name of the letter "h", hā.

Hay · proper noun⁴

1. Middle English · inherited fromHay
2. English todayHay

From Middle English Hay.

Words from the same roots