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Webster 1913 Edition

Hey

Hey

,
Adj.
[See
High
.]
High.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.

Hey

,
int
erj.
[OE.
hei
; cf. D. & G.
hei
.]
1.
An exclamation of joy, surprise, or encouragement.
Shak.
2.
A cry to set dogs on.
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition

Hey

HEY.

An exclamation of joy or mutual exhortation, the contrary to the L.hei.

Definition 2024

hey

hey

English

Alternative forms

Interjection

hey

  1. An exclamation to get attention.
    Hey, look at this!
  2. A protest or reprimand.
    Hey! Stop that!
  3. An expression of surprise.
    Hey! This is new!
  4. (US, Australia, Britain, Canada) An informal greeting, similar to hi.
    Hey! How's it going?
  5. A request for repetition or explanation; an expression of confusion (see also eh, huh).
    Hey? How's that?
  6. A meaningless beat marker or extra, filler syllable in song lyrics.
    The chorus is nana na na, nana na na hey hey hey, goodbye".

Related terms

Translations

See also

Noun

hey ‎(plural heys)

  1. (country dancing) A choreographic figure in which the dancers weave between one another.

Translations

Etymology 2

See he.

Noun

hey ‎(plural heys)

  1. Alternative spelling of he (Hebrew letter)

Anagrams

Faroese

Interjection

hey

  1. hi, hey, hello
    hey aftur! - hello again!

Synonyms

Antonyms

Icelandic

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /heiː/
  • Rhymes: -eiː

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hey, from Proto-Germanic *hawją.

Noun

hey n ‎(genitive singular heys, nominative plural hey)

  1. (usually uncountable) hay
Declension

Etymology 2

Interjection

hey

  1. hey

Portuguese

Verb

hey

  1. Obsolete spelling of hei

Somali

Verb

hey

  1. possess

Etymology

From Middle English hey, hei, also without h- in ey, from Old English *hē, ēa ‎(interjection), attested as first element in Old English hēlā, ēalā ‎(“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”). Cognate with Dutch hé, hei ‎(“hi, hey”), German hei ‎(“hey, wow”), Danish and Swedish hej ‎(“hello, hey”), Faroese hey ‎(“hey, hello”), Icelandic hei ‎(“hey”), Romanian hei ‎(“hei”), see heigh. Probably a natural expression, as may be inferred from its presence with similar meaning in many other unrelated languages: for example, Burmese ဟေး ‎(he:), Finnish hei, Unami hè, and Mandarin Chinese 哎 ‎(āi), and various sound-alikes as Roman eho, Greek εἴα ‎(eía), Latin eia, Sanskrit हे ‎(he). See also hello.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: hā, IPA(key): /heɪ/
  • Homophone: hay
  • Rhymes: -eɪ

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