Meanings
hay1
plural hays
- uncountableGrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder.
Make hay while sunne shines.
1605, M. N. [pseudonym; William Camden], Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, […], London: […] G[eorge] E[ld] for Simon Waterson, →OCLC1 more example
Hay may be dried too much as well as too little.
1857, Charles Louis Flint, Grasses and Forage Plants: A Practical Treatise, […] - countableAny mix of green leafy plants used for fodder.
present singular third person hays · participle present haying · participle past hayed · past hayed
- To cut grasses or herb plants for use as animal fodder.
- To lay snares for rabbits.
hay2
plural hays
- obsoleteA hedge.
- obsoleteA circular country dance.
My men like Satyres grazing on the lawnes, Shall with their Goate feete daunce an antick hay,
1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page)1 more example
I’ll make one in a dance, or so; or I will play On the tabour to the Worthies, and let them dance the hay.
c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]
hay3
plural hays
- The letter for the h sound in Pitman shorthand.
- The Latin letter H.
Synonyms: aitch
Hay4
- A surname.
- A place name:
- A town and local government area (Hay Shire) in the Riverina area of New South Wales, Australia, named after John Hay.
- A township in Gladwin County, Michigan, United States.
- abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of Hay-on-Wye: a small town in Hay community, Powys, Wales, on the England-Wales border.
- A community (civil parish) for Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, served by Hay-on-Wye Town Council.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe Latin letter H.
Origin
hay · noun, verb
- Proto-Germanic*hawją
- Proto-West Germanic*hawi
- Old Englishhīeġ
- Middle Englishhey
- Englishhay
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.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →hay · noun
- Old Englishġehæġ“an enclosed piece of land”
- Old Englishheġe“hedge, fence”
- Middle Englishhaye
- Englishhay
From Middle English haye, heye, a conflation of Old English heġe (“hedge, fence”) and Old English ġehæġ (“an enclosed piece of land”).
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →hay · noun
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.
Full word history & related roots →Hay · proper noun
- Middle EnglishHay
- EnglishHay
From Middle English Hay.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans hooi
- hooigrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Arabic تِبْن, جَفِيف
- تِبْن (tibn)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- جَفِيف (jafīf)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- حَشِيش (ḥašīš)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- دَرِيس (darīs)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Basque belar, belar ondu
- belargrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- belar ondugrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- belarra onduto cut green plants for fodder
Bengali খড়
- খড় (khoṛ)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Bulgarian сено́, кося и суша трева
- сено́ (senó)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- кося и суша трева (kosja i suša treva)to cut green plants for fodder
Catalan fenc
- fencgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Chinese Mandarin 乾草 /干草
- 乾草 /干草 (gāncǎo)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Czech seno
- senograss cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Danish hø, slå hø
- høgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- slå høto cut green plants for fodder
Dutch hooi, hooien
- hooigrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- hooiento cut green plants for fodder
Esperanto fojno
- fojnograss cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Estonian hein, heina tegema
- heingrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- heina tegemato cut green plants for fodder
Finnish heinä, tehdä heinää
- heinägrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- tehdä heinääto cut green plants for fodder
French foin
- foingrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
German Heu
- Heugrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Greek άχυρο, σανός
- άχυρο (áchyro)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- σανός (sanós)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Hawaiian mauʻu
- mauʻugrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Hebrew חציר, שחת
- חצירgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- שחתgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- מספואgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Hindi सूखी घास, पुआल
- सूखी घास (sūkhī ghās)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- पुआल (puāl)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- पराली (parālī)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Hungarian széna
- szénagrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Icelandic hey
- heygrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Indonesian rumput kering
- rumput keringgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Italian fieno, far fieno
- fienograss cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- far fienoto cut green plants for fodder
Japanese 干草
- 干草 (hoshikusa)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Korean 건초
- 건초 (geoncho)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Latin faenum
- faenumgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Latvian siens, gulta
- siensgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- gultagrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Lithuanian šienas, šienauti
- šienasgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- šienautito cut green plants for fodder
Malay rumput kering
- rumput keringgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Māori hei
- heigrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Norwegian Bokmål høy
- høygrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Persian کاه
- کاه (kâh)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Polish siano, kosić siano
- sianograss cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- kosić sianoto cut green plants for fodder
Portuguese feno, relva
- fenograss cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- relvagrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- forragemgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- fenarto cut green plants for fodder
Romanian fân, cosi
- fângrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- cosito cut green plants for fodder
Russian се́но, собира́ть се́но
- се́но (séno)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- собира́ть се́но (sobirátʹ séno)to cut green plants for fodder
Scottish Gaelic feur
- feurgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Slovak seno
- senograss cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Spanish heno, cortar heno
- henograss cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- cortar henoto cut green plants for fodder
Swahili majani makavu, ukoko mkwavu
- majani makavugrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- ukoko mkwavugrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Swedish hö
- högrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Tagalog ginikan, dayami
- ginikangrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- dayamigrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Tamil வைக்கோல்
- வைக்கோல் (vaikkōl)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Thai ฟาง
- ฟาง (faang)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Turkish saman, kuru ot
- samangrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- kuru otgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Ukrainian сі́но
- сі́но (síno)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Vietnamese cỏ khô, cắt cỏ cho thú vật
- cỏ khôgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
- cắt cỏ cho thú vậtto cut green plants for fodder
Welsh gwair
- gwairgrass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Yiddish היי
- היי (hey)grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with hay
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
hay. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hay
“hay.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hay. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hay,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hay.
Source: hay on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.