# gay
## Translingual
### Symbol

gay
* (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Gayo.

### See also

* Wiktionary’s coverage of Gayo terms

## English
### Pronunciation

* enPR: gā, IPA: /ɡeɪ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪ

### 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 *𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*gaheis, “impetuous”), merging with earlier Old French jai ("merry"; see jay), from Frankish *gāhi; both from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden”). This is possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- (“to stride, step”), from *ǵʰēy- (“to go”), but Kroonen rejects this derivation and treats the Germanic word as having no known etymology.
Cognate with Dutch gauw (“fast, quickly”), Westphalian Low German gau, gai (“fast, quick”), German jäh (“abrupt, sudden”).
Anatoly Liberman, following Frank Chance and Harri Meier, believes Old French gai was instead a native development from Latin vagus (“wandering, inconstant, flighty”), with *[w] > [g] as in French gaine.
The sense of homosexual (first recorded no later than 1937 by Cary Grant in the film Bringing Up Baby, and possibly earlier in 1922 in the poem "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene" by Gertrude Stein) was shortened from earlier gay cat ("homosexual boy") in underworld and prison slang, itself first attested about 1935, but used earlier for a young tramp or hobo attached to an older one.
Pejorative usage is probably due to hostility towards homosexuality.
The sense of ‘upright’, used in reference to a dog’s tail, probably derives from the ‘happy’ sense of the word.

#### Adjective

gay (comparative gayer, superlative gayest)
* Homosexual:
** (of a person) Possessing sexual and/or romantic attraction towards people one perceives to be the same sex or gender as oneself. [from 1950]
    Cliff is gay, but his twin brother is straight.
*** 1947, Rorschach Research Exchange and Journal of Projective Techniques, page 240:
    He was not happy at the farm and went to a Western city where he associated with a homosexual crowd, being "gay," and wearing female clothes and makeup.
*** 2003, Michael McAvennie, The World Wrestling Entertainment Yearbook:She couldn't even gain access from a family friend whose name was on the list, nor could she use her feminine charms to turn on the staff member, who revealed he was gay and was more impressed seeing Billy and Chuck enter the building.
*** 2005, Mark Caldwell, New York Night, page 133:Of the dozen or so surviving articles, squibs, and letters to the editor, the most remarkable appeared in the Whip and Satirist’s February 12, 1842, issue, and disclosed the existence of a cabal of gay men in New York's otherwise wholesome nightscape of brothels and riots. Moreover it identified the spider who minced so delicately along the wide-flung strands of the sodomitical web. "There is not one so degraded as this Captain Collins, the King of the Sodomites." He was a foreigner, an Englishman, in the long tradition of blaming homosexuality on the influence of aliens. Among the syndicate of perverts, the writer announced, "we find no Americans as yet—they are all Englishmen or French" (the English called homosexuality the French vice and the French the English vice; for the Whip it was the French and English vice).
*** 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:Her adoptive mother fainted when Gail told her she was gay.
** (strictly) Describing a homosexual man.
    gay and lesbian people
** (of an animal, by extension) Tending to partner or mate with other individuals of the same sex.
*** 2010, Noėl Sturgeon, Environmentalism in Popular Culture: Gender, Race, Sexuality, and the Politics of the Natural, page 128:In fact, as several letter writers to the New York Times pointed out in their response to the article, the disjuncture between these two popularized penguins shows how radically separated from each other are communities of gay people and communities of right-wing religious conservatives: if the Christian fundamentalists had looked up "gay penguins" or even "penguins" on the Internet, they would have encountered several gay penguin sites, including the story of Roy and Silo, the Central Park Zoo gay penguin couple about whom a children's book was written; the saga of the gay penguin community at a German zoo; and the campaign of Gay Penguin for President (whose slogan was "George W. Bush talks the talk, but Gay Penguin walks the walk.")
** (of a romantic or sexual act or relationship) Between two or more persons perceived to be of the same sex or gender as each other.
    Although the number of gay weddings has increased significantly, many gay and lesbian couples — like many straight couples — are not interested in getting married.
    gay marriage
    gay sex
** (colloquial) Not heterosexual, or not cisgender: homosexual, bisexual, asexual, transgender, etc.
    Coordinate term: LGBTQ
** (of an institution or group) Intended for gay people, especially gay men.
    She professes an undying love for gay bars and gay movies, and even admits to having watched gay porn.
*** 1977, Charles Silverstein, Edmund White, The Joy of Gay Sex, New York: Crown Publishers, →ISBN, page 162:Gays meet each other in special-interest social groups—gay softball leagues, gay bike clubs, gay gymnasia, gay activist political organizations, the Gay Academic Union (an organization for gay teachers, scholars and students), gay university student clubs and so on.
*** 2003, Lawrence Block, Small Town, page 269:He might well have suspected Cheek was a gay bar without seeing any of its patrons, simply because it was in a neighborhood where most of the bars were gay, and because you couldn't see in the windows.
*** 2004, Martin Hughes, Sarah Johnstone, Tom Masters, London, page 208:Turn left into chilled-out Old Compton St and try to guess which bars are gay. Even the straight bars in Soho are quite gay, so it's often a bit hard to tell.
*** 2010, Jay Mohr, No Wonder My Parents Drank: Tales from a Stand-Up Dad, page 252:Again I was to masturbate into a cup and again the majority of the porn was gay.
** (slang, with for) Homosexually in love with someone.
*** 2014 December 6, Ej Dickson, “The 7 worst things about NBC's "Peter Pan Live!"”, in Salon.com‎:[…] the pirates, who are obviously totally gay for each other […]
*** 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, […]
*** 2017 May 2, German Lopez, “Stephen Colbert tried to insult Donald Trump. He made a homophobic comment instead.”, in Vox‎:[…] it’s now pretty popular among progressives to paint the US and Russian presidents as being gay for each other.
** (slang, humorous, with for) Infatuated with something, aligning with homosexual stereotypes.
*** 2014 December 31, Dan Savage, anonymous quotee, “Savage Love”, in The Stranger‎:Vanilla straight guy here. […] Is it socially acceptable for me to good-naturedly say, "I'm totally gay for musical theater"?
** In accordance with stereotypes of homosexual people:
*** (loosely, of appearance or behavior) Being in accordance with stereotypes of gay people, especially gay men.
*** (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, published 2005, →ISBN, page 25:This incident has become a source of much discussion, and the jury is still out on who is more gay: the guy who touched a dick or the guy who let a guy touch his dick.
* A pejorative:
** (slang, derogatory) Effeminate or flamboyant in behavior.
** (slang, derogatory) Used to express dislike: lame, uncool, stupid, burdensome, contemptible, generally bad.
    Synonym: ghey
    This game is gay; let’s play a different one.
*** 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!"
* (dated) Happy, joyful, and lively.
    The Gay Science
** c. 1692, William Walch, preface to Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant, in John Dryden, The Fourth Part of Miſcellany Poems, Jacob Tonson (publisher, 1716), page 338:
    Never was there a more copious Fancy or greater reach of Wit, than what appears in Dr. Donne; nothing can be more gallant or gentile than the poems of Mr. Waller; nothing more gay or ſprightly than thoſe of Sir John Suckling; and nothing fuller of Variety and Learning than Mr. Cowley’s.
** 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020:Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.
** 1934, George Marion Jr. et al., (title):
    The Gay Divorcee.
** 1939 July 19, The Bulletin, Sydney, page 14, column 1:’Tis fine to be a pretty girl, or just a gay and witty girl, And obviously to be both is rightly counted jam[.]
** 1972, Gilbert O'Sullivan, “Alone Again (Naturally)”, in Back to Front:To think that only yesterday / I was cheerful, bright and gay
** 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 252:The excitement engendered by the decision to die perked him right up; he had not felt so gay for ages.
* (dated) Quick, fast.
** 1873, Gwordie Greenup, Yance a Year, section 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.
** 1954 July, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 488:My correspondent, who was riding in the first coach, comments that the small standard tender did not take kindly to this gay progress, and signified its disapproval from time to time by bombarding the train with lumps of coal!
** 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.
* (dated) Festive, bright, or colourful.
    Pennsylvania Dutch include the plain folk and the gay folk.
** 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:A Beavie of fair women, richly gay / In gems and wanton dress.
** 1881, J. P. McCaskey (editor), “Deck the Hall”, Franklin Square Song Collection, number 1, Harper & Brothers (New York), page 120:
    Don we now our gay apparel.
** 1944, Ralph Blane, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, Meet Me in St. Louis, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
    Make the Yule-tide gay / From now on our troubles will be miles away
** 1946 May and June, “Notes and News: Special Services for the Welsh National Eisteddfod”, in Railway Magazine, page 188:Rhos station had been cleaned up for the occasion, and its single platform was gay with flags.
* (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:Prince Borghese was what is called a "gay, dissipated man"—that is to say, a powerful person leading a debauched and infamous life.
** 1879, Great Britain, Reports from committees, House of Commons, page 61:[…] it is possible for people to be diseased without being prostitutes or gay women; it is possible for people years ago to have spent a gay life and to have not got rid of their disease, or they may have become diseased by their husbands or lovers.
** 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:Gay (common), loose, dissipated; a "gay woman" or "gay girl," a prostitute. "All gay," vide ALL GAY.
** 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:She imprudently forms the acquaintance of a "gay girl" living in the same street.
** 1899, Henry Fielding, edited by Edmund Gosse, The works of Henry Fielding with an introduction, volume 11, page 290:"As nothing could be more gay, i.e., debauched, than Zeno's court, so the ladies of gay disposition had great sway in it; particularly one, whose name was Fausta, who, though not extremely handsome, was by her wit and sprightliness very agreeable to the emperor.
** 1937, Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon, page 357:"It's an odd thing," he observed, "that men like Crutchley, with quantities of large white teeth, are practically always gay Lotharios."
** 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 88:Most of them liked the work because it was gay and because they were able to earn more than other girls who worked in offices or city stores. They apparently remain taxi-dancers for only about a year or two[.]
* (of a dog's tail) Upright or curved over the back.
** 1997, Michael DeVine, Border Collies:While the dog in concentrating at a given task, the tail is carried low and used for balance. In excitement it may rise level with the back. A “gay” tail is a fault.
** 2000, David Leavitt, Martin Bauman; or, a Sure Thing:By now Nora had left my side and was grappling with Maisie, trying to hold her still long enough to examine her bit. “You haven’t trained her well,” she muttered to Eli. “Oh, she’s got a gay tail!” Eli laughed. “A gay tail? What does that mean?” “It curls upward.” Nona let Maisie go. “Still, you never intended her to be a show dog,” she added. brushing off her skirt as she made for the house.
* (Scotland, Northern England, possibly obsolete) Considerable, great, large in number, size, or degree. In this sense, also in the variant gey.
** 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
###### sexual sense

* anti-gay
* be gay, do crime
* cisgay
* don't say gay
* fake and gay
* gaily
* gay as pink ink
* gay-ass
* gay baby jail
* gaybait
* gay bar
* gay basher
* gay bash, gay-bash
* gaybeseen
* gaybine
* gaybo
* gay bob
* gay bomb
* gayborhood
* gaybourhood
* gayboy
* gay boy
* Gaybraham
* gayby
* gayby boom
* gay cancer
* gaycation
* gaycel
* Gaychester
* gay chicken
* gaycism
* gaycist
* gay curious
* gaydar, gay-dar
* gay death
* gay district
* gaydom
* gaydy
* gay enclave
* gayface
* gayfag
* gayfeather
* gayfolk
* gay for pay
* gay for the stay
* gay-friendliness
* gay-friendly, gay friendly
* gayful
* gay ghetto
* Gaygler
* gay-hate
* gayhood
* gay icon
* gayification
* gayify
* gay-in
* gayish
* gayism
* gayization
* gayless
* gay liberation
* gaylicious
* gayling
* Gaylor
* gaylord
* gayly
* gay man
* gay marriage
* gay marry, gay-marry
* gaymer
* gaymo
* gay neighborhood, gay neighbourhood
* gayness
* gayola
* gay panic
* gay panic defense
* gayphobe
* gayphobia
* gayphobic
* gay plague
* gay pride
* gay quarter
* gay race communism
* Gayreek
* gay-related immune deficiency, gay-related immunodeficiency
* gay rights
* gay-shame
* gay-shaming
* gaysian
* gaysome
* gayspeak
* gaysploitation
* Gaystapo
* GayStation
* gay-straight alliance
* gaystream
* gaytard
* gaytarded
* gaytastic
* gaytheist
* gaytopia
* gay tyke boy
* gay up
* gay village
* Gayville
* gaywad
* gaywings
* guncle
* guppie
* gusband
* holigay
* homogay
* I'm gay
* land rights for gay whales
* lesbigay
* lesbigaytrans
* nongay
* Norgay
* outgay
* postgay
* pray away the gay
* pray the gay away
* prison gay
* pro-gay
* transgay
* trans the gay away
* tray
* ungay
* yestergay

###### other senses

* begay
* gaiety
* gay 90s
* gay as a lark
* gay as springtime
* gay blade
* gay dog
* Gay Dutch
* gayety
* gay lady
* gay old time
* nosegay
* with gay abandon

##### Related terms

* jay

##### Descendants

* → Cantonese: 基 (gei$^1$)
** → Mandarin: 基 (jī)
* → Catalan: gai
* → Esperanto: geja
* → French: gay
* → German: gay
* → Greek: γκέι (gkéi)
* → Irish: aerach (calque)
* → Italian: gay
* → Japanese: ゲイ (gei)
* → Mandarin: gay (gèi)
* → Portuguese: gay, guei (adapted spelling)
* → Romanian: gay
* → Spanish: gay
* → Telugu: గే (gē)
* → Thai: เกย์ (gee)
* → Turkish: gey

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Noun

gay (plural gays)
* (now chiefly in the plural) A homosexual, especially a male homosexual.
    Coordinate term: lesbian
** 1969, “N.Y. Gays: Will the Spark Die?”, in The Advocate‎:[headline] N.Y. Gays: Will the Spark Die?
** 1974, Earl Wilson, Show Business Laid Bare‎:"Same-sex dancing, as we call it, is quite legal," a gay named Lew Todd, who was one of the spokesmen, spoke up.
** 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.
** 2012, Todd J. Ormsbee, The Meaning of Gay, page 313:On June 28, 1970, young gays in the city held a “Gay-in” in Golden Gate Park, and Gay Sunshine ran a photo of some of the participants in their inaugural issue […]
* (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.
* (obsolete) An ornament, a knick-knack.
** 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:Look upon precepts in emblems, as they do to upon gays and pictures.
** 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): A-gay, baby gay, ex-gay, gay bashing, gold star gay, homogay, stage gay
* (colorful object or flower; ornament): nosegay

##### Translations
#### Verb

gay (third-person singular simple present gays, present participle gaying, simple past and past participle gayed)
* (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.
* (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
* (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, section 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 (2005) “gay”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 1 (A–I), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 845.
* Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “GAY”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.
* ↑ Alain Rey, ed., Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, vol. 2, s.v. “gai” (Paris: Le Robert, 2006).
* ↑ Marlies Philippa et al., eds., Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands, A-Z, s.v. “gauw” (Amsterdam UP, 3 Dec. 2009): .
* ↑ Louis Guinet, Les emprunts gallo-romans au germanique (Paris: Klincksieck, 1982).
* ↑ Kroonen, Guus (2013) “*ganhu-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 167f.
* ↑ Anatoly Liberman (2012 February 1) “The deep roots of gaiety”, in OUPblog
* ↑ Blackmer, Corrine E (1995), "Gertrude Stein", in Claude J. Summers, The Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage, →ISBN
* ↑ Gertrude Stein (1922) “Miss Furr and Miss Skeene”, in Geography and Plays:They stayed there and were gay there, not very gay there, just gay there. They were both gay there, they were regularly working there both of them cultivating their voices there, they were both gay there. Georgine Skeene was gay there and she was regular, regular in being gay, regular in not being gay, regular in being a gay one who was one not being gay longer than was needed to be one being quite a gay one. They were both gay then there and both working there then.
* ↑ Robert K. Barnhart, ed., Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, s.v. “gay” (Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap, [2008], c1988), 425.
* ↑ Stephan Cohen, The Gay Liberation Youth Movement in New York: ‘An Army of Lovers Cannot Fail’ (2007, →ISBN), quoting Sylvia Rivera: "'If you want Gay Power, then you're going to have to fight for it. And you're going to have to fight until you win.' For Rivera, 'gay' meant non-heteronormative (or 'queer' in today's lexicon), crossing sexual and gender boundaries to include lesbians, gay men, and transvestites, as well as the street youth who had participated in Stonewall."
* ↑ Rachel Kranz, Tim Cusick, Gay Rights (2014, →ISBN), page 3: For convenience, this volume uses gay, gay rights, and gay people as umbrella terms to include gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals. In some cases transgender people are also included in the term, although many transgender people do not consider themselves gay or lesbian, and at some points in gay history, transgender rights were considered part of the gay rights movement.
* ↑ Lacey Sloan, Nora Gustavsson, Violence and Social Injustice Against Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People (2014, →ISBN), page 116: Latina lesbians, Latino gays and bisexuals may experience a triple stigma and oppression when they are not fully accepted in the gay community because of their ethnicity[.]
* ↑ The American Heritage® Book of English Usage: A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English (1996), "gay"
* ↑ For example: David Kaufman, Untying the Knot: A Husband and Wife's Story of Coming Out Together (2012, →ISBN): Gays, and apparently lesbians, are discouraged from being openly bisexual. The cultural standard in the gay community is that you have to pick one sex and stick to it.

### 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)
* The letter —, which stands for the sound /ɡ/, in Pitman shorthand.

##### Related terms

* gee (in Latin script)

### Anagrams

* YAG

## Chinese
### Etymology

Borrowed from English gay. Doublet of 基 (jī).

### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): gèi
    (Zhuyin): ㄍㄟˋ
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: gay
*** Zhuyin: ㄍㄟˋ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: gèi
*** Wade–Giles: kei$^4$
*** Yale: gèi
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: gey
*** Palladius: гэй (gɛj)
*** Sinological IPA : /keɪ̯⁵¹/
* (Mandarin)
** (Dagudi (Maliba)) IPA: /ke⁴⁴/ (Xiao, 2016)
** (Reshuitang (Longling)) IPA: /ke⁴⁴/ (Xiao, 2016)
** (Mae Salong (Lancang)) IPA: /ke⁴⁴/ (Xiao, 2016)
** (Mae Sai (Tengchong)) IPA: /ke⁵⁵/ (Xiao, 2016)

### Noun

gay
* gay; gay man (Classifier: 個／个)

#### Derived terms

* gay蜜 (gēimì)
* gay裡gay氣 / gay里gay气
* gay達 / gay达 (gèidá)

## Czech
### Etymology

Borrowed from English gay.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈɡɛj]
* Hyphenation: gay

### Noun

gay m anim
* gay male
    Synonyms: (vulgar) bukvice, buzík, buzerant, buzna, homokláda; (colloquial, derogatory) homouš, teplouš; (mostly neutral) homosexuál

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “gay”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

## Finnish
### Etymology

From English gay.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɡei̯/, [ˈɡe̞i̯]
* Rhymes: -ei

### Noun

gay (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

Possessive forms of gay (Kotus type 21/rosé, no gradation) :
first-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
gayni
gayni
accusative
nom.
gayni
gayni
gen.
gayni
genitive
gayni
gayideni gayitteni
partitive
gaytäni
gayitäni
inessive
gayssäni
gayissäni
elative
gaystäni
gayistäni
illative
gayhini gayhyni
gayihini
adessive
gaylläni
gayilläni
ablative
gayltäni
gayiltäni
allative
gaylleni
gayilleni
essive
gaynäni
gayinäni
translative
gaykseni
gayikseni
abessive
gayttäni
gayittäni
instructive
comitative
—gayineni
second-person singular possessor
singular
plural
nominative
gaysi
gaysi
accusative
nom.
gaysi
gaysi
gen.
gaysi
genitive
gaysi
gayidesi gayittesi
partitive
gaytäsi
gayitäsi
inessive
gayssäsi
gayissäsi
elative
gaystäsi
gayistäsi
illative
gayhisi gayhysi
gayihisi
adessive
gaylläsi
gayilläsi
ablative
gayltäsi
gayiltäsi
allative
gayllesi
gayillesi
essive
gaynäsi
gayinäsi
translative
gayksesi
gayiksesi
abessive
gayttäsi
gayittäsi
instructive
comitative
—gayinesi
first-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
gaymme
gaymme
accusative
nom.
gaymme
gaymme
gen.
gaymme
genitive
gaymme
gayidemme gayittemme
partitive
gaytämme
gayitämme
inessive
gayssämme
gayissämme
elative
gaystämme
gayistämme
illative
gayhimme gayhymme
gayihimme
adessive
gayllämme
gayillämme
ablative
gayltämme
gayiltämme
allative
gayllemme
gayillemme
essive
gaynämme
gayinämme
translative
gayksemme
gayiksemme
abessive
gayttämme
gayittämme
instructive
comitative
—gayinemme
second-person plural possessor
singular
plural
nominative
gaynne
gaynne
accusative
nom.
gaynne
gaynne
gen.
gaynne
genitive
gaynne
gayidenne gayittenne
partitive
gaytänne
gayitänne
inessive
gayssänne
gayissänne
elative
gaystänne
gayistänne
illative
gayhinne gayhynne
gayihinne
adessive
gayllänne
gayillänne
ablative
gayltänne
gayiltänne
allative
gayllenne
gayillenne
essive
gaynänne
gayinänne
translative
gayksenne
gayiksenne
abessive
gayttänne
gayittänne
instructive
comitative
—gayinenne
third-person possessor
singular
plural
nominative
gaynsä
gaynsä
accusative
nom.
gaynsä
gaynsä
gen.
gaynsä
genitive
gaynsä
gayidensä gayittensä
partitive
gaytään gaytänsä
gayitään gayitänsä
inessive
gayssään gayssänsä
gayissään gayissänsä
elative
gaystään gaystänsä
gayistään gayistänsä
illative
gayhinsä gayhynsä
gayihinsä
adessive
gayllään gayllänsä
gayillään gayillänsä
ablative
gayltään gayltänsä
gayiltään gayiltänsä
allative
gaylleen gayllensä
gayilleen gayillensä
essive
gaynään gaynänsä
gayinään gayinänsä
translative
gaykseen gayksensä
gayikseen gayiksensä
abessive
gayttään gayttänsä
gayittään gayittänsä
instructive
comitative
—gayineen gayinensä :

#### Synonyms

* homo

### Further reading

* “gay”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from English gay, itself a borrowing from French gai. Doublet of gai.

### Pronunciation

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

### Noun

gay m (plural gays)
* 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: /ɡaj/

### Noun

gay
* snake track

#### References

* Gamilaraay Yuwaalaraay Yuwaalayaay Dictionary 2003

## German
### Etymology

Borrowed from English gay.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ɡɛɪ̯]
* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

gay (strong nominative masculine singular gayer, not comparable)
* gay
    Synonym: schwul

### Further reading

* “gay” in Duden online
* “gay” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

## Indonesian
### Etymology

From English gay, 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 *𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*gaheis, “impetuous”), merging with earlier Old French jai (“"merry"”), from Frankish *gāhi, both from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden”). This is possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- (“to stride, step”), from *ǵʰēy- (“to go”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɡay/
* Hyphenation: gay

### Noun

gay (plural gay-gay)
* gay: homosexual: being between two or more men

### Further reading

* “gay” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Interlingua
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡeɪ/

### Adjective

gay (comparative plus gay, superlative le plus gay)
* (LGBTQ, sexuality) gay

### Noun

gay (plural gays)
* gay

#### Synonyms

* homine gay
* persona gay

### See also

* gai (merry)

## Italian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English gay.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɡɛj/, /ˈɡej/
* Rhymes: -ɛj, -ej

### Adjective

gay (invariable)
* gay

### Noun

gay m or f by sense
* gay

### References

* ↑ gay in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

### Further reading

* gay in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

## Lombard
### Etymology

Borrowed from English gay.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡei/, [ɡɛj], [ɡeːi]

### Adjective

gay m
* gay, male homosexual.

### Noun

gay m
* gay, male homosexual

### Related terms

* omosessual
* oregjon

## Maguindanao
### Etymology

Akin to Maranao gawi'i.

### Noun

gay
* day

## Manx
### Noun

gay f
* Eclipsed form of kay.

### Mutation

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

## Matal
### Pronunciation

IPA: [ɡáj]

### Noun

gay
* mouth
    Apokwà gay aŋha aw (Sləray 8:32)He did not open his mouth. (Acts 8:32)
* language
* beginning

### References

* ↑ Rossing, Melvin Olaf (1978) “gay”, in Mafa-Mada: A Comparative Study of Chadic Languages in North Cameroun, Ann Arbor, Michigan: The University of Wisconsin-Madison, page 46
* ↑ http://listen.bible.is/MFHWYI/Act/8#32

## Middle Dutch
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɣaːi/

### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French gai.

#### Adjective

gay
* 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
* jay
* 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.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɡɛi̯/

### Adjective

gay
* joyous, merry
** 1405 Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Canterbury Tales (source):
    (Line 221) To bringe me gaye thinges fro the fayre.(please add an English translation of this quotation)
    (Line 236) Why is my neighebores wyf so gay?(please add an English translation of this quotation)
    (Line 298) That I was born, and make me fresh and gay,(please add an English translation of this quotation)
    (Line 508) But in oure bed he was so fressh and gay(please add an English translation of this quotation)
    (Line 545) For ever yet I lovede to be gay,(please add an English translation of this quotation)

#### Descendants

* English: gay
* Yola: gaaye, gaay, gay, 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)
* cheerful; happy; gay

#### Descendants

* French: gai

## Portuguese
### Alternative forms

* guei (adapted spelling)

### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English gay. Doublet of gaio.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈɡej/ [ˈɡeɪ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈɡɐj/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈɡɐj/
** (Northern Portugal) IPA: /ˈɡej/
** (Central Portugal) IPA: /ˈɡej/
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /ˈɡe/
* Homophone: guei

### Adjective

gay m or f (plural gays)
* gay
** homosexual (involving or relating to same-sex relationships, especially between males)
    Synonyms: homossexual, (slang, derogatory) bicha, (Brazil, slang, derogatory) veado
** (figurative, slang) overly sentimental
** (figurative, slang) effeminate or flamboyant

#### Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:gay.

#### Coordinate terms

* assexual
* bissexual
* demissexual
* heterossexual
* homossexual
** gay
** lésbica
* onissexual
* pansexual

#### Derived terms

* kit gay

### Noun

gay m or f by sense (plural gays)
* gay; homosexual (person attracted to others of the same sex), especially a male homosexual
    Synonyms: homossexual, (slang, derogatory) bicha, (Brazil, slang, derogatory) veado
* (slang, derogatory) a person who lame, stupid or shows any other unpleasant characteristics

#### Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:gay.

## Romanian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English gay.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ɡej]

### Adjective

gay m or f or n (indeclinable)
* gay
    Homomasculinitatea este un termen care se referă la o subcultură de bărbați gay care se auto-identifică cu rolul de gen și cultura stereotipului masculinității tradiționale.Homomasculinity is a term that refers to a subculture of gay men who self-identify with the gender roles and culture of the stereotype of traditional masculinity.

#### Declension
## Scots
### Adverb

gay
* fairly, considerably

## Sori-Harengan
### Noun

gay
* water

### References

* Blust's Austronesian Comparative Dictionary

## Spanish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English gay.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɡei/ [ˈɡei̯]
** Rhymes: -ei
* IPA: /ˈɡai/ [ˈɡai̯]
** Rhymes: -ai
** Syllabification: gay

### Adjective

gay m or f (masculine and feminine plural gays or gais)
* gay, homosexual
    María es la única persona que no sabe que su hermano es gay.Maria is the only person who doesn't know that her brother is gay.

#### Derived terms

* bar gay
* orgullo gay

### Noun

gay m or f by sense (plural gays or gais)
* 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.

### References

* ↑ gays,gais at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.

### Further reading

* “gay”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Swedish
### Adjective

gay (comparative mer gay, superlative mest gay)
* (only used predicatively) gay, homosexual
    Synonyms: homosexuell, (male, possibly offensive) bög, lesbisk, (female, possibly offensive) lebb, (female, possibly offensive) flata

#### Derived terms

* gaysex

#### References

* gay in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* gay in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* Fula Ordboken

## Vietnamese
### Pronunciation

* (Hà Nội) IPA: [ɣaj˧˧]
* (Huế) IPA: [ɣaj˧˧]
* (Saigon) IPA: [ɣa(ː)j˧˧]

### Adjective

gay • (咳, 垓, 荄)
* difficult; hard

#### Derived terms

* đỏ gay
* gay cấn
* gay gắt
* gay go (từ láy)

## Yola
### Adjective

gay
* Alternative form of gaaye
** 1927, THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD:Gay RochfortGay Rochford

### References

* Kathleen A. Browne (1927) “THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD.”, in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of lreland (Sixth Series)‎, volume 17, number 2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 128