toy
/tɔɪ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.30 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Something to play with, especially as intended for use by a child.
noun
A thing of little importance or value; a trifle.
noun
A simple, light piece of music, written especially for the virginal.
Example Sentences
- "A grown man like him does not play with a child’s toy."
- "tis a pretie toy to be a Poet."
- "he had deflowered the abbess, and as many besides of the nuns as he could, and leaves him withal rings, jewels, girdles, and such toys to give them still, when they came to visit him."
- "Since standards are large dogs, they grow much more rapidly than miniatures and toys, which means that they require more supplements."
- "Then seemed him his Lady by him lay, / And to him playnd, how that false winged boy, / Her chast hart had subdewd, to learne Dame pleasures toy."
- "Though they do talk with you, and seem to be otherwise employed, and to your thinking very intent and busy, still that toy runs in their mind, that fear, that suspicion, that abuse, that jealousy […]."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English toye (“amorous play, piece of fun or entertainment”), probably from Middle Dutch toy, tuyg (“tools, apparatus, utensil, ornament”) as in Dutch speel-tuig (“plaything, toy”), from Old Dutch *tiug, from Proto-West Germanic *tiugī̆, *teug, from Proto-Germanic *teugą (“stuff, matter, device, gear, lever”, literally “that which is drawn or pulled”), from Proto-Germanic *teuhaną (“to lead, bring, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to pull, lead”). Cognate with Dutch tuig (“thing”), German Zeug (“stuff”), Danish tøj (“stuff”), Icelandic tygi, Norwegian tøy (“equipment, riggings, stuff”), Swedish tyg (“cloth, textile, fabric”). Related to tug, tow, taw, tew.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /tɔɪ/
- British English: /tɔɪ/
Usage
Inflected Forms
toys (plural)
toys (present, singular)
toying (participle, present)
toyed (participle, past)
toyed (past)
more toy (comparative)
most toy (superlative)