ay
/ˈeɪ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.61 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
2
Letters
1
Syllables
2
Unique Chars
Meaning
intj
Ah! alas! Expressing anger, alarm, frustration, pain, etc.
intj
intj
Used in ay, ay.
intj
Alternative spelling of aye (“yes”).
noun
Alternative spelling of aye (“yes”).
noun
Alternative form of a: the name of the Latin script letter A/a.
intj
New Zealand spelling of eh (question tag).
Example Sentences
- "And ſuch as yet, coulde neuer weapon wꝛeſt, / But on the lappe are woont to dandled be, / Ne yet foꝛgotten had the mothers bꝛeſt, / How greekes them ſlew, alas here ſhall ye ſe, / To make repoꝛte therof, ay woe is me, / My ſong is miſchiefe, murder miſerye."
- "Ay my word! I am glad to see you."
- "Under the strain of this continually impending doom and by the sleeplessness to which I now condemned myself, ay, even beyond what I had thought possible to man, I became, in my own person, a creature eaten up and emptied by fever, languidly weak both in body and mind, and solely occupied by one thought: the horror of my other self."
- "Ay! bonny little buttercup, what are ta dewin’ heear, / Hoddin’ up thi tiny heead, this raw, cowd time o’ t’year?"
- "“Ay, I’m glad he’s going to be mairrit,” he said a few minutes later as he sat in the manse kitchen."
- "AY BY GUM. They’ve summat to put up wi’ hez t’ tram conductors, especially wheer t’ swells lives."
Etymology
From Middle English ei, ej, ey, eye, ultimately imitative of the natural utterance, although probably also influenced by Anglo-Norman and Old French ahi, Old French haï, and Middle French aï, aïe, ay.