Join free

Hay

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

hay¹

  • /heɪ/

Sounds like hey · Rhymes with -eɪ

Where it comes from

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.

noun hays

  1. uncountable Grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder. Make hay while sunne shines.
  2. countable Any mix of green leafy plants used for fodder.
  3. countable, slang, uncountable Cannabis; marijuana. I would like some of that hay. Enclose $20.
  4. countable, uncountable A net set around the haunt of an animal, especially a rabbit.

verb hays · haying · hayed

  1. To cut grasses or herb plants for use as animal fodder.
  2. To lay snares for rabbits.

hay²

  • /heɪ/

Sounds like hey · Rhymes with -eɪ

Where it comes from

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

noun hays

  1. obsolete A hedge.
  2. obsolete A net placed around the lair or burrow of an animal.
  3. obsolete An enclosure, haw.
  4. obsolete A circular country dance. My men like Satyres grazing on the lawnes, Shall with their Goate feete daunce an antick hay,

hay³

  • /heɪ/

Sounds like hey · Rhymes with -eɪ

Where it comes from

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.

noun hays

  1. The letter for the h sound in Pitman shorthand.

Hay⁴

Where it comes from

From Middle English Hay.

proper noun

  1. A surname.
  2. A town and local government area (Hay Shire) in the Riverina area of New South Wales, Australia, named after John Hay.
  3. A township in Gladwin County, Michigan, United States.
  4. An unincorporated community in Whitman County, Washington, United States.
  5. abbreviation, ellipsis Ellipsis of Hay-on-Wye: a small town in Hay community, Powys, Wales, on the England-Wales border.Hay-on-Wye
  6. A community (civil parish) for Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, served by Hay-on-Wye Town Council.
  7. A hamlet in St Breock parish, Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SW9770).

Talk about this word