stay
/steɪ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.33 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "We stayed in Hawaii for a week. I can only stay for an hour."
- "She would commaund the hasty Sunne to stay, Or backward turne his course from heuen's hight,"
- "Stay, I command you; stay and hear me first,"
- "1874 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Three Friends of Mine,” IV, in The Masque of Pandora and Other Poems, Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875, p. 353, I stay a little longer, as one stays / To cover up the embers that still burn."
- "“Well,” I says, “I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough.” ¶ She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going."
- "Wear gloves so your hands stay warm."
Etymology
From Middle English steyen, staien, from Old French estayer, estaier (“to fix, prop up, support, stay”), from estaye, estaie (“a prop, stay”), from Middle Dutch staeye (“a prop, stay”), a contracted form of staede, stade (“a prop, stay, help, aid”) (compare Middle Dutch staeyen, staeden (“to make firm, stay, support, hold still, stabilise”)), from Proto-West Germanic *stadi (“a site, place, location, standing”), from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“a standing, place”), from Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis (“standing”). Influenced by Old English stæġ ("a stay, rope"; see below). Cognate with Old English stede (“a place, spot, locality, fixed position, station, site, standing, status, position of a moving body, stopping, standing still, stability, fixity, firmness, steadfastness”), Swedish stödja (“to prop, support, brace, hold up, bolster”), Icelandic stöðug (“continuous, stable”). More at stead, steady. Sense of "remain, continue" may be due to later influence from Old French ester, esteir (“to stand, be, continue, remain”), from Latin stāre (“stand”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root above; however, derivation from this root is untenable based on linguistic and historical grounds. An alternative etymology derives Old French estaye, estaie, from Frankish *stakā, *stakō (“stake, post”), from Proto-Germanic *stakô (“stake, bar, stick, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“rod, pole, stick”), making it cognate with Old English staca (“pin, stake”), Old English stician (“to stick, be placed, lie, remain fixed”). Cognate with Albanian shtagë (“a long stick, a pole”). More at stake, stick.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *steh₂-, steyen, estayer, staeye, *stadi, *stadiz
Usage
Inflected Forms
stays (present, singular)
staying (participle, present)
stayed (participle, past)
stayed (past)
staid (obsolete, participle)
staid (obsolete, past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
stayed (first person, past)
stayest (archaic, present)
stayed (past, second person)
stayedst (archaic, past)