# gai
## Basque
### Etymology

Of unknown origin. Probably from the suffix -gai, and not the other way round.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡai̯/ [ɡai̯]
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ai̯
* Hyphenation: gai

### Noun

gai inan
* material
* matter, stuff
* topic, subject

#### Derived terms

* gai izan (“to be capable of”)
* ikasgai (“lesson”)

### References

* ↑ “gai” in Etymological Dictionary of Basque by R. L. Trask, sussex.ac.uk

### Further reading

* “gai”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]
* “gai”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈɡaj]
* This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

### Etymology 1

From Old Occitan gai. Compare Sicilian javiu.

#### Adjective

gai (feminine gaia, masculine plural gais, feminine plural gaies)
* gay, merry
    Synonyms: alegre, festiu

##### Derived terms

* gaiament
* gaia ciència
* gai saber

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from English gay.

#### Adjective

gai m or f (masculine and feminine plural gais)
* gay, homosexual

#### Noun

gai m (plural gais)
* gay man

### Further reading

* “gai” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “gai”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “gai” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “gai” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Cebuano
### Etymology

Shortening.

### Pronunciation

* Hyphenation: ga‧i

### Verb

gai
* Short for tagai.

## French
### Etymology

From Old French gai, from Old Occitan gai, from Gothic *𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*gaheis, “impetuous”); or from Frankish *gāhi (“fast, sudden, impetuous”), Frankish *wāhi (“pretty”), both from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz (“lively, fast, quick”); or (per Liberman, Chance, Meier) from Latin vagus (“wandering, inconstant, flighty”), with *[w] → [ɡ] as in French gaine. Doublet of vague in that case.
Cognate with English gay and Italian gaio.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡɛ/, /ɡe/
* Audio:(file)
* Homophones: gaie, gaies, gais, gay, gays, guet, guets
* Rhymes: -ɛ

### Adjective

gai (feminine gaie, masculine plural gais, feminine plural gaies)
* cheerful; merry
* gay; homosexual

#### Antonyms

* sombre
* triste

#### Derived terms

* antigai
* avoir la cuisse gaie
* égayer
* gai comme un pinson
* gaiement
* gaieté

#### Related terms

* gaillard

#### Descendants

* Louisiana Creole: gé

### References

* ↑ Picoche, Jacqueline with Jean-Claude Rolland (2009) “gai”, in Dictionnaire étymologique du français (in French), Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert
* ↑ Dauzat, Albert with Jean Dubois, Henri Mitterand (1964) Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique (in French), Paris: Librairie Larousse
* ↑ http://blog.oup.com/2012/02/word-origin-roots-gay/

### Further reading

* “gai”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Anagrams

* agi

## Irish
### Noun

gai m (genitive singular gai, nominative plural gaethe)
* Obsolete spelling of gae (“spear, dart; ray”).

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

## Italian
### Adjective

gai
* masculine plural of gaio

### Anagrams

* AGI, agi, agì, già

## Japanese
### Romanization

gai
* Rōmaji transcription of がい

## Mandarin
### Romanization

gai
* Nonstandard spelling of gāi.
* Nonstandard spelling of gǎi.
* Nonstandard spelling of gài.

#### Usage notes

* Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

## North Moluccan Malay
### Etymology

Possibly from Ternate.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɡa.i/
* Hyphenation: ga‧i

### Noun

gai
* maggots

#### Usage notes

Often used with a plural meaning without additional reduplication.

#### Derived terms

* bagái (“maggoted”)

## Old French
### Etymology

From Old Occitan gai.

### Adjective

gai m (oblique and nominative feminine singular gaie)
* happy; cheerful; gay

#### Descendants

* Middle French: gay
** French: gai
* → Middle English: gay
** English: gay
** Yola: gaaye, gaay, gay, gai
* → Middle Dutch: gay
** Dutch: gei, gaai

## Old Galician-Portuguese
### Etymology

Probably from Latin gaudium (“joy”), as borrowed from Old Occitan gai; alternatively of Germanic origin. Cognate with English gay and Italian gaio.

### Adjective

gai
* happy; joyous
** late 13rd century - early 14th century, Fernando Esquio, A un frade dizem escarallado:Cuid'eu que gai é, de piss'arreitadoI believe he gets happy when his dick's erect

#### Descendants

* Galician: gaio
* Portuguese: gaio

### References

* ↑ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “gayo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

## Old Occitan
### Etymology

Perhaps of Germanic origin and from Frankish *gahi, from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz (“quick, lively, fast”).

### Adjective

gai m or f (plural gais)
* happy; joyous
** c. 1145, Bernard de Ventadour, Lo gens tems de pascor:Per que tuih amador Son gai e chantadorFor all the lovers are joyous and full of song

#### Descendants

* Occitan: gai
* → Old French: gai
** Middle French: gay
*** French: gai
** → Middle English: gay
*** English: gay
*** Yola: gaaye, gaay, gay, gai
** → Middle Dutch: gay
*** Dutch: gei, gaai
* → Old Galician-Portuguese: gai
** Galician: gaio
** Portuguese: gaio

## Papiamentu
### Etymology

From Portuguese galo and Spanish gallo.

### Noun

gai
* rooster

## Rohingya
### Pronunciation

* This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

### Noun

gai
* cow

## Vietnamese
### Pronunciation

* (Hà Nội) IPA: [ɣaːj˧˧]
* (Huế) IPA: [ɣaːj˧˧]
* (Saigon) IPA: [ɣaːj˧˧]
* Audio (Hà Nội):(file)

### Etymology 1

From Proto-Vietic *t-keː. Cognate with Arem takeː ("horn"), Proto-Bahnaric *ʔəkɛː (whence Bahnar ake/hơke) and Proto-Katuic *kii, *ʔakii (whence Pacoh ki (“horn on nose, single tusk of rhino”)).

#### Alternative forms

* (North Central Vietnam) cây

#### Noun

(classifier cái) gai • (荄, 核, 𣘃)
* hemp-nettle
* thorn
* prickle
(classifier cây, quả, trái) gai
* (Central Vietnam) pineapple

##### Derived terms

* chông gai
* gai góc
* gai mắt
* ngò gai

### Etymology 2

From Proto-Vietic *-keː (“ramie”).

#### Alternative forms

* (North Central Vietnam) cây

#### Noun

(classifier cây) gai • (荄, 𦃮)
* ramie

##### Derived terms

* gai dầu

### Anagrams

* gia

## West Makian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɡa.i/

### Verb

gai
* (stative) to be dead

#### Alternative forms

* gei

#### Derived terms

* fagei (“to kill (of non-humans)”)
* magei (“dead, to die”)

### References

* Dick Teljeur (1982) Short Wordlists from South Halmahera, Kayoa, Makian, Ternate, Tidore, and Bacan‎, Pacific linguistics
* James Collins (1982) Further Notes Towards a West Makian Vocabulary‎, Pacific linguistics

## Yola
### Adjective

gai
* Alternative form of gaaye
** 1867, “DR. RUSSELL ON THE INHABITANTS AND DIALECT OF THE BARONY OF FORTH”, in APPENDIX:Gai Gaffort,Gay Gifford.

### References

* Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 126

## Zhuang
### Pronunciation

* (Standard Zhuang) IPA: /kaːi˨˦/
* Tone numbers: gai$^1$
* Hyphenation: gai
* This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

### Etymology 1

From Chinese 街 (MC kea|keaj, “street”). Cognate with Bouyei gaail and Tày cai. Compare Cantonese 街 (gaai1).

#### Noun

gai (Sawndip form 街, 1957–1982 spelling gai)
* street

#### See also

* daihloh
* dauhloh
* dingqroen
* loh
* maxloh
* roen
* roennou

### Etymology 2

From Proto-Tai *p.qaːjᴬ (“to sell”). Cognate with Thai ขาย (kǎai), Northern Thai ᨡᩣ᩠ᨿ, Lao ຂາຍ (khāi), Lü ᦃᦻ (ẋaay), Tai Dam ꪄꪱꪥ, Shan ၶၢႆ (khǎai), Ahom 𑜁𑜩 (khay), Bouyei gaail. Compare Proto-Kam-Sui *kwe¹ (“to sell”) (whence Sui beel).

#### Verb

gai (Sawndip forms 𰷔 or ⿰改賣 or ⿰賣亥 or 皆 or 該 or 开 or 𬻦 or ⿱夫⿰丿丨 or ⿰出卖 or ⿰卖该 or ⿲丶开丶, 1957–1982 spelling gai)
* to sell
    Synonym: siu
    Antonym: cawx

##### Derived terms

* baugai
* baenzgai
* bouxgai
* cekgai
* gaicawx
* gaicek
* gaigat
* gaigvai
* gaihux
* gaihuq
* gailengq
* gailing
* gaimued
* gainet
* gaisi
* gaiswx
* liebgai
* ndeigai
* okgai