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Hey

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hey¹

  • /heɪ/

Sounds like hay, hae (pane–pain merger) · Rhymes with -eɪ

Where it comes from

From Middle English hey, hei, also without h- in ey, from Old English *hē, ēa (interjection), attested as first element in hēlā, ēalā (“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”). Cognate with Dutch hé, hei (“hi, hey”), German hei (“hey, wow”), Danish and Swedish hej (“hello, hey”), Faroese hey (“hey, hello”), Old Norse, Icelandic and Norwegian hei (“hey”), Polish hej (“hey, hello”), Romanian hei, Russian эй (ej, “hey”); see heigh. Probably a natural expression, as may be inferred from its presence with similar meaning in many other unrelated languages: for example, Burmese ဟေး (he:), Finnish hei, Unami hè, and Mandarin 哎 (āi), and various sound-alikes as Ancient Greek εἶα (eîa) and Latin eia, eho, Sanskrit हे (he). See also hello.

interjection hay · heigh

  1. informal An exclamation to get attention. Hey, look at this!
  2. informal A protest or reprimand. Hey! Stop that!
  3. informal An expression of surprise. Hey! This is new!
  4. informal An informal greeting, similar to hi. Hey! How's it going?
  5. informal A request for repetition or explanation; an expression of confusion. Hey? How's that?
  6. informal Used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said. "Who 's a cur - now - hey?"
  7. informal A meaningless beat marker or extra, filler syllable in song lyrics. The chorus is "nana na na, nana na na hey hey hey, goodbye".

Similar: yo, gee whiz, yowzah, howdy, wotcher, ahem, ahoy, cooee, hey, heyo, hoi, oi oi

verb heys · heying · heyed · hay · heigh

  1. informal To greet with a "hey"

hey²

  • /heɪ/

Sounds like hay, hae (pane–pain merger) · Rhymes with -eɪ

Where it comes from

From French haie (“hedge”), with reference to the weaving patterns used in hedgelaying. Doublet of hedge and quay.

noun heys

  1. informal A choreographic figure in which three or more dancers weave between one another, passing by left and right shoulder alternately.

hey³

  • /heɪ/

Sounds like hay, hae (pane–pain merger) · Rhymes with -eɪ

Where it comes from

See he.

noun heys

  1. alternative, informal Alternative spelling of he (“Hebrew letter”).he

Hey⁴

proper noun Heys

  1. A surname.

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