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Guy

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guy¹

  • /ɡaɪ/
  • [ɡaɪ] UK, US
  • [ɡɑj] British, Southern, Standard
  • [ɡaɪ] Canada
  • [ɡəj] dialectal
  • [ɡɑɪ] Australia

Sounds like Guy · Rhymes with -aɪ

Where it comes from

Coined by semantic widening from the name of Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), an English Catholic executed for his role in the Gunpowder Plot, which also came to refer to effigies of his image burned annually on Guy Fawkes Night. The name Guy is from Old French Gui, from a Frankish form of Proto-West Germanic *Widō (compare Old Dutch Wido), a short form of names beginning with the element *widu (“wood”), from Proto-Germanic *widuz. Cognate with Italian Guido. Doublet of guido.

noun guys

  1. Ireland, UK An effigy of a man burned on a bonfire on the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot (5th November).
  2. dated A person of eccentric appearance or dress; a "fright". “But shan’t I look a guy?” “Not a bit of it. Jist the very kick!”
  3. colloquial A man or boy; a fellow. “You don't say so? I thought he was some guy from Pennsylvania.”
  4. especially, in plural A person (see usage notes). You know, I don't believe any girl ever had any better friends than you two guys
  5. colloquial Anything seen to have character and personality, such as an animal or a toy. The dog's left foreleg was broken, poor little guy.
  6. informal, term of address dude, Buster, Mack, fella, bud, man. Hey, guy, give a man a break, would ya?
  7. colloquial Thing, item (term that can be used to refer to any entity) This guy, here, controls the current, and this guy, here, measures the voltage.

verb guys · guying · guyed

  1. intransitive To exhibit an effigy of Guy Fawkes around the 5th November.
  2. transitive To make fun of, to ridicule with wit or innuendo. The dusky hunters "guyed" the palefaces who could not do as well as they with their primitive weapons, even though the fire spouted from the iron tubes and the balls that could not be seen by the eye carried death farther than did the missiles launched by the natives.

guy²

  • /ɡaɪ/
  • [ɡaɪ] UK, US
  • [ɡɑj] British, Southern, Standard
  • [ɡaɪ] Canada
  • [ɡəj] dialectal
  • [ɡɑɪ] Australia

Sounds like Guy · Rhymes with -aɪ

Where it comes from

From Old French guie, linked to verb guier (“guide”), from Frankish *wītan, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wītaną (“know”). Cognate with English guide.

noun guys · guies

  1. obsolete, rare A guide; a leader or conductor.
  2. A support rope or cable used to aid in hoisting or lowering.
  3. A support to secure or steady structures prone to shift their position or be carried away (e.g. the mast of a ship, a suspension bridge, or a utility pole).

verb guys · guying · guyed

  1. To equip with a support cable. The swinging booms were then guyed out, and the boats made fast by geswarps, and everything in harbor style.

Guy³

  • /ɡaɪ/

Sounds like guy · Rhymes with -aɪ

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

Proto-Indo-European *dwi-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-us

Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)wéydʰ(h₁)us

Proto-Germanic *widuz

Proto-West Germanic *widu

Proto-Indo-European *-ō

Proto-Germanic *-ô

Proto-West Germanic *-ō

Frankish *Widōbor.

Medieval Latin *Widō

Old French Guibor.

English Guy

From Old French Gui, from a Frankish form of Proto-West Germanic *Widō (compare Old Dutch Wido), a short form of names beginning with the element *widu (“wood”), from Proto-Germanic *widuz; see for example modern German Witold and Old Saxon Widukind. Cognate with Italian Guido and thus a doublet of Guido. More at wood.

proper noun Guys

  1. A male given name from the Germanic languages. I am not Samson, nor Sir Guy, nor Colbrand, To mow 'em down before me;
  2. A surname originating as a patronymic. Derek Guy was a relatively unknown menswear writer with 25,000 followers on Twitter in 2022.

noun Guys

  1. UK An effigy of Guy Fawkes burned on Bonfire Night

Guy⁴

  • /ɡaɪ/

Sounds like guy · Rhymes with -aɪ

Where it comes from

From the Hebrew name גַּיְא (gáy, literally “valley”), with the spelling influenced by the existing English name.

proper noun

  1. A male given name from Hebrew.
  2. A surname.

Guy⁵

  • /ɡaɪ/

Sounds like guy · Rhymes with -aɪ

Where it comes from

For places which could be from either etymology above.

proper noun

  1. A minor city in Faulkner County, Arkansas.
  2. An unincorporated community in Liberty Township, Howard County, Indiana.
  3. An unincorporated community in Warren County, Kentucky.
  4. An unincorporated community in Fort Bend County, Texas.
  5. A hamlet in the Municipal District of Smoky River, No. 130, Alberta, Canada.

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