How do you pronounce quay?

The recorded pronunciation is /kiː/.

Where does quay come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

quay

/kiː/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.26 in modern English

Syllables: quay
IPA: /kiː/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A stone or concrete structure on navigable water used for loading and unloading vessels; a wharf.

verb

To land or tie up at a quay or similar structure, especially used in the phrase "quay up".

adj

Alternative spelling of qway (“far”).

adv

Alternative spelling of qway (“far”).

name

A surname.

Example Sentences

"moor up in the quay"
"[…] its harbour was filled with stately ships; and its quays, swarming with foreign traders and loaded with bales of costly merchandise[…]"

Etymology

The current spelling replaced the spelling key in the 1690s to emulate the spelling but (at least originally) not the pronunciation of the equivalent modern French quai. From Middle English kay, key, kaye, keye, from Old French kay, cail, from Gaulish *kagyum, cagiíun (“enclosure”), from Proto-Celtic *kagyom (“pen, enclosure”) (compare Welsh cae (“field”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰyóm (“enclosure”). Doublet of hedge and hey (“choreographic figure”).

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: kay, *kagyum, *kagyom, *kagʰyóm

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /kiː/
British English: /kiː/

Subject

Wiktionary places this term in Food.

Inflected Forms

quays (plural) cay (alternative, obsolete) quays (present, singular) quaying (participle, present) quayed (participle, past) quayed (past) quayer (comparative) quayest (superlative)

Derived Forms

Newquay quayage quayful quaylike quayman quaymaster quayside quayward quaywards Torquay

Phrases

Circular Quay Connah's Quay New Quay Willington Quay Quay County

Frequently Paired Words

dock pier float cay harbour harbor mole riprap

Homonyms

key ki kee cay

Rhymes With

be he we me she see three free de tv key sea