different between black vs gay

English

Alternative forms

• Black (race-related)

Pronunciation

• enPR: bl?k, IPA^(key): /blæk/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /blak/
• Rhymes: -æk

Etymology

From Middle English blak, black, blake, from Old English blæc (“black, dark", also "ink”), from Proto-Germanic *blakaz (“burnt”) (compare Dutch blaken (“to burn”), Low German blak, black (“blackness, black paint, (black) ink”), Old High German blah (“black”)), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *b?leg- (“to burn, shine”) (compare Latin flagr?re (“to burn”), Ancient Greek ???? (phlóx, “flame”), Sanskrit ???? (bharga, “radiance”)). More at bleach.

Adjective

black (comparative blacker or more black, superlative blackest or most black)

1. (of an object) Absorbing all light and reflecting none; dark and hueless.
2. (of a place, etc) Without light.
3. (sometimes capitalized) Belonging to or descended from any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin. (See usage notes below.)
   • 1975 May, Terry Hodges, in Ebony, page 10:

     I am a young, light-skinned black woman, and truer words were never written of the problem we light-skinned blacks have had to live with. The article explains in-depth what it's like.
4. (chiefly historical) Designated for use by those ethnic groups.

   black drinking fountain; black hospital

5. (card games, of a card) Of the spades or clubs suits. Compare red (“of the hearts or diamonds suit”)

   I was dealt two red queens, and he got one of the black queens.

6. Bad; evil; ill-omened.
   • 1655, Benjamin Needler, Expository notes, with practical observations; towards the opening of the five first chapters of the first book of Moses called Genesis. London: N. Webb and W. Grantham, page 168.

     ...what a black day would that be, when the Ordinances of Jesus Christ should as it were be excommunicated, and cast out of the Church of Christ.
7. Expressing menace, or discontent; threatening; sullen.

   He shot her a black look.

8. (of objects, markets, etc) Illegitimate, illegal or disgraced.
   • 1866, The Contemporary Review, London: A. Strahan, page 338.

     Foodstuffs were rationed and, as in other countries in a similar situation, the black market was flourishing.

9. (Ireland, informal) Overcrowded.
10. (of coffee or tea) Without any cream, milk, or creamer.

    Jim drinks his coffee black, but Ellen prefers it with creamer.

11. (board games, chess) Of or relating to the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the "black" set (in chess the set used by the player who moves second) (often regardless of the pieces' actual colour).

    The black pieces in this chess set are made of dark blue glass.

12. (typography) Said of a symbol or character that is solid, filled with color. Compare white (“said of a character or symbol outline, not filled with color”).

    Compare two Unicode symbols: ? = "WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX"; ? = BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX

13. (politics) Related to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany.

    After the election, the parties united in a black-yellow alliance.

14. Clandestine; relating to a political, military, or espionage operation or site, the existence or details of which is withheld from the general public.

    5 percent of the Defense Department funding will go to black projects.

    black operations/black ops, black room, black site

15. Occult; relating to something (such as mystical or magical knowledge) which is unknown to or kept secret from the general public.
    • 2014, J.R.R. Tolkien, Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (?ISBN), page 168:

      But a hel-rúne was one who knew secret black knowledge – and the association of hell with the dead shows that the gloss in O.H.G. 'necromancia' is very close.

16. (Ireland, now derogatory) Protestant, often with the implication of being militantly pro-British or anti-Catholic. (Compare blackmouth ("Presbyterian").)

    the Black North (Ulster)

    the Royal Black Institution

    • 1812, Edward Wakefield, An Account of Ireland, Statistical and Political Vol. 2, p. 737:

      There is a district, comprehending Donegal, the interior of the county of Derry, and the western side of Tyrone, which is emphatically called by the people "the Black North," an expression not meant, as I conceive, to mark its greater exposure to the westerly winds, but rather its dreary aspect.

    • 1841 March 20, "Intelligence; Catholicity in Ulster" Catholic Herald (Bengal), Vol. 2 No. 1, p. 27:

      Even in the "black North"—in " Protestant Ulster"—Catholicity is progressing at a rate that must strike terror into its enemies, and impart pride and hope to the professors of the faith of our sainted forefathers.

    • 1886 Thomas Power O'Connor, The Parnell Movement: With a Sketch of Irish Parties from 1843, page 520:

      To the southern Nationalist the north was chiefly known as the home of the most rabid religious and political intolerance perhaps in the whole Christian world; it was designated by the comprehensive title of the 'Black North.'

    • 1914 May 27, "Review of The North Afire by W. Douglas Newton", The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality, volume 86, page t:

      Now April's brother, once also holding a commission in that regiment, was an Ulster Volunteer, her father a staunch, black Protestant, her family tremulously "loyal" to the country whose Parliament was turning them out of its councils.

    • 1985 April, J. A. Weaver, "John Henry Biggart 1905-1979 — A portrait in respect and affection", Ulster Medical Journal, volume 54, number 1, page 1:

      He [Sir John Henry Biggart] was personally amused at having once been called "a black bastard".

    • 2007 September 6, Fintan O'Toole, "Diary", London Review of Books volume 29, number 17, page 35:

      He had been playing Gaelic football for Lisnaskea Emmets, his local team in County Fermanagh, against a team from nearby Brookeborough, when someone from the opposing team called him a ‘black cunt’. ‘Black’, in this case, was a reference not to the colour of his skin but to his religion. It is short for ‘Black Protestant’, a long-standing term of sectarian abuse.

17. Having one or more features (hair, fur, armour, clothes, bark, etc) that is dark (or black); in taxonomy, especially: dark in comparison to another species with the same base name.

    black birch, black locust, black rhino

    the black knight, black bile

18. Foul; dirty.

Usage notes

• In the United States, black typically refers to people of African descent, including indirect African descent via the Caribbean, including those with light skin. In the United Kingdom, black often includes dark-skinned Asians. In Australian, Aboriginal Australians are often referred to as or identify as black. In New Zealand, Maoris are sometimes referred to as or identify as black.
• Some style guides recommend capitalizing Black in reference to the racial group, while others advise using lowercase (black); lowercase is more common.

Synonyms

• (dark and colourless): dark; swart; see also Thesaurus:black
• (without light): dark, gloomy, pitch-black

Antonyms

• (dark and colourless): white, nonblack, unblack
• (without light): bright, illuminated, lit

Derived terms

(taxonomy: having dark features):

(other senses):

Related terms

Descendants

• Bislama: blak
• Tok Pisin: blak
• Torres Strait Creole: blaik
• ? Dutch: black
• ? French: black
• ? Greek: ??????? (blákis)

Translations

See black/translations § Adjective.

Noun

black (countable and uncountable, plural blacks)

1. (countable and uncountable) The colour/color perceived in the absence of light, but also when no light is reflected, but rather absorbed.
2. (countable and uncountable) A black dye or pigment.
3. (countable) A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of black pigment.
4. (in the plural) Black cloth hung up at funerals.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, "Of Death", Essays:

     Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible.

5. (sometimes capitalised, countable) A member of descendant of any of various (African, Aboriginal, etc) ethnic groups which typically have dark pigmentation of the skin. (See usage notes above.)
6. (informal) Blackness, the condition of belonging to or being descended from one of these ethnic groups.

7. (billiards, snooker, pool, countable) The black ball.
8. (baseball, countable) The edge of home plate.
9. (Britain, countable) A type of firecracker that is really more dark brown in colour.
10. (informal, countable) Blackcurrant syrup (in mixed drinks, e.g. snakebite and black, cider and black).
11. (in chess and similar games, countable) The person playing with the black set of pieces.

    At this point black makes a disastrous move.

12. (countable) Something, or a part of a thing, which is black.
    • 1644, Kenelm Digby, Two Treatises

      the black or sight of the eye

13. (obsolete, countable) A stain; a spot.
    • 1619, William Rowley, All's Lost by Lust

      defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust

14. A dark smut fungus, harmful to wheat.
15. (US, slang) Marijuana.

Synonyms

• (colour or absence of light):
  • blackness
• (person):
  • (standard) African American (in the US), Afro-American (in the US), person of African descent
  • (usually derogatory or historical): Negro, colored
  • (derogatory): coon, darkie or darky, nigger

Antonyms

• (colour, dye, pen): white

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ???? (burakku)
• ? Volapük: bläg

Translations

See black/translations § Noun.

Verb

black (third-person singular simple present blacks, present participle blacking, simple past and past participle blacked)

1. (transitive) To make black; to blacken.
   • 1859, Oliver Optic, Poor and Proud; or, The Fortunes of Katy Redburn, a Story for Young Folks [5]

     "I don't want to fight; but you are a mean, dirty blackguard, or you wouldn't have treated a girl like that," replied Tommy, standing as stiff as a stake before the bully.

     "Say that again, and I'll black your eye for you."

   • 1911, Edna Ferber, Buttered Side Down [6]

     Ted, you can black your face, and dye your hair, and squint, and some fine day, sooner or later, somebody'll come along and blab the whole thing.

   • 1922, John Galsworthy, A Family Man: In Three Acts [7]

     I saw red, and instead of a cab I fetched that policeman. Of course father did black his eye.

2. (transitive) To apply blacking to (something).
   • 1853, Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin [8]

     […] he must catch, curry, and saddle his own horse; he must black his own brogans (for he will not be able to buy boots).

   • 1861, George William Curtis, Trumps: A Novel [9]

     But in a moment he went to Greenidge's bedside, and said, shyly, in a low voice, "Shall I black your boots for you?"

   • 1911, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson [10]

     Loving you, I could conceive no life sweeter than hers — to be always near you; to black your boots, carry up your coals, scrub your doorstep; always to be working for you, hard and humbly and without thanks.

3. (Britain, transitive) To boycott, usually as part of an industrial dispute.
   • 2003, Alun Howkins, The Death of Rural England (page 175)

     The plants were blacked by the Transport and General Workers' Union and a consumer boycott was organised; both activities contributed to what the union saw as a victory.

Synonyms

• (make black): blacken, darken, swarten
• (boycott): blackball, blacklist; see also Thesaurus:boycott

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• monochrome
• Appendix:Word formation verb -en noun -ness

References

• black at OneLook Dictionary Search
• black in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• black in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Further reading

• black on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Black on Wikisource.Wikisource

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English black.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blak/

Adjective

black (plural blacks)

1. relating to a black person or culture

   Synonym: noir

Noun

black m or f (plural blacks)

1. black person

   Synonym: noir

Middle English

Adjective

black

1. Alternative form of blak

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: g?, IPA^(key): /?e?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Etymology 1

From Middle English gay, from Old French gai (“joyful, laughing, merry”), usually thought to be a borrowing of Old Occitan gai (“impetuous, lively”), from Gothic *???????????????????????? (*gaheis, “impetuous”), merging with earlier Old French jai ("merry"; see jay), from Frankish *g?hi; both from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden”). This is possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *??eng?- (“to stride, step”), from *???y- (“to go”), but Kroonen rejects this derivation and treats the Germanic word as having no known etymology.

Adjective

gay (comparative gayer, superlative gayest)

1. (dated, possibly archaic) Happy, joyful, and lively.

   The Gay Science

   • 1405 Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Canterbury Tales (source):

   • c. 1692, William Walch, preface to Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant, in John Dryden, The Fourth Part of Mi?cellany Poems, Jacob Tonson (publisher, 1716), page 338:

   • 1934, George Marion Jr. et al., (title):

   • 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur (Faber & Faber 1992), page 252:

2. (dated) Quick, fast.
   • 1873, Gwordie Greenup, Yance a Year, 25:

     I went a gay shack, / For it started to rain.

   • 1918, Hunter-trader-trapper, page 36:

     We launched our canoe and were off at a gay clip for Hackettstown, where Mart had a married sister, and we were figuring on big eats.

   • 2016, Laura Jean Libbey, Mischievous Maid Faynie, Library of Alexandria (?ISBN):

     " […] there is no one more competent to make it fly at a gay pace than myself. A prince of the royal blood couldn't go at a faster pace than I have been going during these last three weeks! Ha, ha, ha!" In a moment he was kneeling before the safe.

   • 2019, Lawrence Lariar, He Died Laughing, Open Road Media (?ISBN):

     We shot along Sunset Boulevard at a gay pace, and squealed a turn down Vine Street with never a jitterbug pedestrian to make the driving interesting.

3. (dated, possibly archaic) Festive, bright, or colourful.

   Pennsylvania Dutch include the plain folk and the gay folk.

   • 1881, J. P. McCaskey (editor), “Deck the Hall^[sic]”, Franklin Square Song Collection, number 1, Harper & Brothers (New York), page 120:

   • 1944, Ralph Blane, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, Meet Me in St. Louis, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

4. (obsolete) Sexually promiscuous (of any gender), (sometimes particularly) engaged in prostitution.
   • 1806 (edition of 1815), John Davis, The Post-Captain, page 150:

     As our heroes passed along the Strand, they were accosted by a hundred gay ladies, who asked them if they were good-natured. "Devil take me!" exclaimed Echo, "if I know which way my ship heads; but there is not a girl in the Strand that I would touch with my gloves on."

   • 1856, Bayle St. John, The Subalpine kingdom: or, Experiences and studies in Savoy, Piedmont, and Genoa, Volume 2 page 158:

   • 1879, House of Commons, Great Britain, Reports from committees, page 61:

   • 1889, Albert Barrère, Charles Godfrey Leland, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant: Embracing English, American, and Anglo-Indian Slang, Pidgin English, Tinker's Jargon and Other Irregular Phraseology, Volume 1, page 399:

   • 1898, John Mackinnon Robertson, G. Aston Singer, "The Social Evil Problem" in The University magazine and free review: a monthly magazine, Volume 9, page 308:

   • 1899, Henry Fielding, Edmund Gosse (editor), The works of Henry Fielding with an introduction, Volume 11, page 290:

   • 1937, Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon, page 357:

5. Homosexual:
   1. (of a person or animal) Possessing sexual and/or emotional attraction towards members of the same sex or gender.
      • 1947, Rorschach Research Exchange and Journal of Projective Techniques[4], page 240:

      • 2003, Michael McAvennie, The World Wrestling Entertainment Yearbook:

      • 2007, Kevin P. Murphy, Jason Ruiz, David Serlin, Queer Futures, Radical History Review (Duke University Press), page 58:

        The two failed attempts to receive the necessary access to medicalized transition procedures by the renowned FTM activist Lou Sullivan—a gay man who refused to comply with the imperative that transsexual men must desire women— […]

      • 2009, Betty Jean Lifton, Lost & Found: the Adoption Experience, page 67:

      • 2010, No?l Sturgeon, Environmentalism in Popular Culture: Gender, Race, Sexuality, and the Politics of the Natural, page 128:

   2. (of a romantic or sexual act or relationship) Being between two or more men, or between two or more women.

   3. (of an institution or group) Intended for gay people, especially gay men.
      • 2003, Lawrence Block, Small Town, page 269:

      • 2004, Martin Hughes, Sarah Johnstone, Tom Masters, London, page 208:

      • 2010, Jay Mohr, No Wonder My Parents Drank: Tales from a Stand-Up Dad, page 252:

   4. (slang, with for) Homosexually in love with someone.

      • 2014, Christopher Schaberg, Robert Bennett, Deconstructing Brad Pitt, Bloomsbury Publishing USA (?ISBN), page 211:

        Being gay for Brad, even a teensy bit, is at the very least being able to imagine the potential for queerness. In a sense, like the recent popular and critical furor over men who are gay-for-pay, being gay for Brad is what Jeffrey Escoffier defines as "situational homosexuality," or other forms of man-on-man behavior […] In other words, rather than worry over whether or not men who are queer for Brad can easily be labeled as straight or gay, […]

   5. (slang, humorous, with for) Infatuated with something, aligning with homosexual stereotypes.

   6. In accordance with stereotypes of homosexual people:
      1. (loosely, of appearance or behavior) Being in accordance with stereotypes of gay people, especially gay men.
      2. (loosely, of a person, especially a man) Exhibiting appearance or behavior that accords with stereotypes of gay people, especially gay men.
         • a. 2005, Jason Christopher Hartley, “October 23, 2004: This Is My Weapon, This Is My Gerber”, in Just Another Soldier: A Year on the Ground in Iraq, HarperCollins (2005), ?ISBN, page 25:

6. A pejorative:
   1. (slang, derogatory) Effeminate or flamboyant in behavior.
   2. (slang, derogatory) Used to express dislike: lame, uncool, stupid.

      Synonym: ghey

      • 1996, Lisa's Date With Density, The Simpsons (cartoon television series). Upon discovering Nelson kissing Lisa:

        Dolph: "Oh, man! You kissed a girl!"

        Jimbo: "That is so gay!"

7. (of a dog's tail) Upright or curved over the back.
8. (Scotland, Northern England, possibly obsolete) Considerable, great, large in number, size, or degree.
   • 1832, George Pearson, Evenings by Eden-side: Or, Essays and Poems, page 67:

     As his reply was rather characteristic, I will give it : Many of them come a gay bit off.

   • 1872, William Cullen Bryant, A Library of Poetry and Song, page 106:

     Thou 's wantin' a sweetheart? Thou 's had a gay few! An' thou 's cheatit them, […]

   • 1876 (edition; original 1871), Richardson, Talk 1:

     A gay deal different to what I is noo.

   • 1881, Dixon, Craven Dales:

     There were a gay bit of lace on it.

   • 1881, Edwin Waugh, Tufts of Heather, I. 106:

     T'country-side was rid on him for a gay while.

   • 1895, Sir Hall Caine, The Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance, page 131:

     "He has a gay bit of gumption in him, has Ray. It'll be no kitten play to catch hold on him, and they know that they do." The emphasis was accompanied by a lowered tone, and a sidelong motion of the head towards a doorway […]

   • 1903, Robert Smith Surtees, Handley Cross, New York : D. Appleton, page 431:

     "It's a gay bit off, though." "Trot on!" retorted Mr. Jorrocks anxiously, spurring Arterxerxes vehemently, an insult that the animal resented by a duck of his head and a hoist of his heels. Bump, bump, trot, trot, squash, splash, swosh, they went  ...

Usage notes

• The predominant use of gay in recent decades has been in the sense homosexual, or in the pejorative sense. The earlier uses of festive, colorful and bright are still found, especially in literary contexts; however, this usage has fallen out of fashion and is now likely to be misunderstood by those who are unaware of it.
• Gay is preferred to homosexual by many gay (homosexual) people as their own term for themselves. Some claim that homosexual is dated and evokes a time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness by the mental health community, while others feel that the word homosexual(ity) does not express the emotional aspects of sexual orientation.
• In the broad political sense, gay usually refers to anything pertaining to same-sex relationships, whether male or female: gay rights and gay marriage. When used in coordination with other terms for sexual orientations, it usually specifically refers to men who are attracted only to men, and excludes lesbians, bisexuals and other orientations, as in phrases like lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB). Context is sometimes necessary to determine whether or not gay implies male in a given phrase.
• Since at least the 1950s, gay has sometimes been used as a broad umbrella term for all queer and gender-nonconforming (transgender and genderqueer/non-binary) people, similar to LGBTQ.

Synonyms

• (homosexual): See Thesaurus:homosexual

Derived terms

Related terms

• jay

Descendants

• ? Irish: aerach (calque)

Translations

Noun

gay (plural gays)

1. (now chiefly in the plural) A homosexual, especially a male homosexual.

   Coordinate term: lesbian

   • 2003, Marilyn J. Davidson, ?Sandra L. Fielden, Individual Diversity and Psychology in Organizations (page 73)

     Yet that does not mean that the issues, concerns and attitudes of gays and lesbians in the workplace are not important.

   • 2004, Betty Berzon, Permanent Partners: Building Gay & Lesbian Relationships That Last (page 20)

     Older gays and lesbians often relegate themselves to separate and unequal meeting places.

2. (dialectal, obsolete) Something which is bright or colorful, such as a picture or a flower.
   • 1839, Charles Clark, John Noakes and Mary Styles, st. 157:

     At a stall soon Mary bote / A hume-book full ov gays.

   • 1892, P. H. Emerson, A Son of the Fens, page 73:

     I had no books to read, but plenty of gays to look at.

   • 1893, Cozens-Hardy, Broad Nrf., page 38:

     ‘Can't you mow the aftermath in the churchyard before Sunday?’ ‘Not time enough, sir, but I'll cut off they gays.’

   • a. 1900, W. R. Eaton of Norfolk, quoted in 1900, Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary:

     There's a good child; look at the gays, and keep quiet.

3. (obsolete) An ornament, a knick-knack.
   • 1906, Cornish Notes & Queries: (first Series) (Cornish Telegraph, Peter Penn), page 132:

     If however the stranger be suspected of “sailing under false colours," when they are all in familiar chat about nothing in particular, “Cousin Jacky” will take occasion to say to the new chum, “My dear; ded 'e ever see a duck clunk a gay?" […] no more deceived by him than a duck can be made to clunk (swallow) a gay (fragment of broken crockery).

Usage notes

• Gay may be regarded as offensive when used as a noun to refer to particular individuals.
• Gay is sometimes used broadly to refer to any man who is attracted to and/or sexually active with other men, or any woman attracted to or active with other women, even if not exclusively, e.g. if their orientation is in fact bisexual.

Synonyms

• see Thesaurus:homosexual person and Thesaurus:male homosexual

Derived terms

• (gay person): gay bashing
• (colorful object or flower; ornament): nosegay

Translations

Verb

gay (third-person singular simple present gays, present participle gaying, simple past and past participle gayed)

1. (transitive, dated, uncommon) To make happy or cheerful. [since at least the 1920s]
   • 1922, Thomas Hardy, Late lyrics and earlier: with many other verses, page 119:

     SAYING GOOD-BYE (song)

     WE are always saying / "Good-bye, good-bye! / In work, in playing, / In gloom, in gaying […]

   • 1952, American Childhood, volume 38, page 2:

     Gaying Things Up For Christmas. JESSIE TODD, Laboratory School, University of Chicago.

     EVERY schoolroom in America is gayed up for Christmas.

2. (transitive, uncommon) To cause (something, e.g. AIDS) to be associated with homosexual people. [popularized in the 1990s]

Related terms

• de-gay
• re-gay

Adverb

gay

1. (Scotland, Northern England) Considerably, very.
   • 1833, John Sim Sands, Poems on Various Subjects, page 115:

     And, tho' his guts ware lank and toom, / They're twice as big's this gay big room.

   • 1869, Joseph Carr, Sketches of village life, by “Eavesdropper”, page 60:

     Now, to end my story, if o' t' village beauties wad git t' religion that good auld parson Jenkins recommends, it wad gay sharply mak' t' dirty women clean, […]

   • 1875, Dickinson, Cumbriana; Or, Fragments of Cumbrian Life, page 8:

     […] an' be t' Silver Cwove, an' than throo t' Pillar, an' a gay rough bit o' grund it is!

   • 1886, Thomas Farrall, Betty Wilson's Cummerland Teals, 42:

     When a fellah com' in 'at was gay free wid spendin.

   • 1892-3, Mrs. Humphry Ward, The History of David Grieve, volume I, page 19:

     She'll mak naw moor mischeef neets—she's gay quiet now!

References

• Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006), page 450, "gay"
• “GAY” in Joseph Wright, editor, The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Published by Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1900, ?OCLC.

Etymology 2

From Pitman kay, which it is derived from graphically, and the sound it represents. The traditional name gee was considered inappropriate, as the Pitman letter never has the sound of that name.

Noun

gay (plural gays)

1. The letter —, which stands for the sound /?/, in Pitman shorthand.

Related terms

• gee (in Latin script)

Anagrams

• YAG

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from English gay. Doublet of ?.

Pronunciation

Noun

gay

1. gay; male homosexual (Classifier: ???)

Derived terms

Czech

Etymology

From English gay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [???j]
• Hyphenation: gay

Noun

gay m anim

1. male gay

Declension

Synonyms

• See also homosexuál

Further reading

• gay in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• gay in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Finnish

Etymology

From English gay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ei?/, [??e?i?]

Noun

gay

1. (colloquial) gay

Usage notes

• Seldom inflected, as this term does not readily fit into Finnish inflection patterns. Instead, corresponding forms of synonymous expressions or compounds such as gay-mies ("gay man") or gay-poika ("gay boy") are used.

Declension

Synonyms

• homo

French

Etymology

From English gay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??/
• Homophones: gai, gaie, gaies, gais, gays, guet, guets
• Rhymes: -?

Noun

gay m (plural gays)

1. gay (homosexual person)

Gamilaraay

Etymology

Snake tracks were carefully avoided as treading on one was thought to cause skin sores. The cart tracks of the early European explorer Mitchell were thought to be giant snake tracks.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?aj/

Noun

gay

1. snake track

References

• Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay Yuwaalayaay Dictionary 2003

German

Etymology

From English gay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [????]

Adjective

gay (not comparable)

1. gay

Related terms

• schwul

Further reading

• “gay” in Duden online

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?/

Adjective

gay (comparative plus gay, superlative le plus gay)

1. (LGBT, sexuality) gay

Noun

gay (plural gays)

1. gay

Synonyms

• homine gay
• persona gay

See also

• gai (merry)

Manx

Noun

gay f

1. Eclipsed form of kay.

Mutation

Matal

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [?áj]

Noun

gay

1. mouth

2. language
3. beginning

References

Middle Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?i/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French gai.

Adjective

gay

1. cheerful, happy

Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

• gaey

Descendants

• Dutch: gei, gaai

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Old Northern French gai, from Late Latin gaius, from the Roman name Latin Gaius. Also see Spanish gaya and urraca.

Noun

gay m

1. jay
2. parrot

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

• gai

Descendants

• Dutch: gaai

Further reading

• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “gay (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN, page I
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “gay (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN, page II

Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French gai.

Adjective

gay

1. joyous, merry

Descendants

• English: gay
• Yola: gaaye, gai

References

• “gai, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Middle French

Etymology

Variant of Old French gai, borrowed from Old Occitan gai, possibly of Germanic origin, or from Latin vagus.

Adjective

gay m (feminine singular gaye, masculine plural gays, feminine plural gayes)

1. cheerful; happy; gay

Descendants

• French: gai

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• guei (rare)

Etymology

Borrowed from English gay.

Pronunciation

Adjective

gay (plural gays, comparable)

1. gay
   1. homosexual (involving or relating to same-sex relationships, especially between males)

   Synonyms: homossexual, (slang, derogatory) bicha, (Brazil, slang, derogatory) veado

   1. (figuratively, slang) overly sentimental
   2. (figuratively, slang) effeminate or flamboyant

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:gay.

Derived terms

• kit gay

Noun

gay m, f (plural gays)

1. gay; homosexual (person attracted to others of the same sex), especially a male homosexual

   Synonyms: homossexual, (slang, derogatory) bicha, (Brazil, slang, derogatory) veado

2. (slang, derogatory) a person who lame, stupid or shows any other unpleasant characteristics

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:gay.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English gay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?ej]

Adjective

gay m or f or n (indeclinable)

1. gay

Declension

Scots

Adverb

gay

1. fairly, considerably

Sori-Harengan

Noun

gay

1. water

References

• Blust's Austronesian Comparative Dictionary

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English gay.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ei/, [??ei?]

• IPA^(key): /??ai/, [??ai?]

Adjective

gay (plural gays or gais)

1. gay, homosexual

Noun

gay m or f (plural gays or gais)

1. a homosexual person, gay person

Usage notes

The Real Academia Española recommends the plural form gais for both the adjective and the noun, but gays is much more common.

Further reading

• “gay” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

References

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà N?i) IPA^(key): [?aj??]
• (Hu?) IPA^(key): [?aj??]
• (H? Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [?a(?)j??]

Adjective

gay • (?, ?, ?)

1. difficult; hard

Derived terms