gay means an English surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname for a cheerful or lively person.
gay is pronounced /ɡeɪ/.
Why “gay” is a great word
Characterized by a primary romantic or sexual attraction to others of the same sex or gender, especially for men. From Middle English gay, from Old French gai (“joyful, merry”), likely from Old Occitan gai (“impetuous, lively”), from a Germanic source such as Gothic *𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*gaheis, “impetuous”) or Frankish *gāhi, from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden”); the sense of 'homosexual' is attested from the 1930s and became the predominant meaning in the latter half of the 20th century. Unlike the expansive, defiant umbrella of “queer” or the clinical detachment of “homosexual,” “gay” is the specific, lived identity claimed as home. It is the quiet, certain look exchanged in a crowded room, the private vocabulary of a community that needed shorthand for solidarity, and the defiant, glittering joy of a parade—carrying both the weight of reclaimed identity and the warmth of a chosen joy, a testament to how a language, like a life, can shed an old skin and insist on its own truth.
Etymology
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 *ǵʰeh₁- (“to leave”), but Kroonen rejects this derivation and treats the Germanic word as having no known etymology.
cognates and sense derivation
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 developmen
name
- An English surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname for a cheerful or lively person.
- A unisex given name from English.; A female given name from English, from the word gay (“joyful”); rare today.
- A unisex given name from English.; A male given name from English.
- A unisex given name from English.; A male given name from English.; A male given name transferred from the surname.
- A unisex given name from English.; A male given name from English.; A diminutive of the male given names Gaylord or Gabriel, and similar namese.g.“- - - my father's father, Gaetano Talese (whose name I inherited after my birth in 1932, in the anglicized form "Gay"), was an atypically fearless traveler,”
adj
- Homosexual:; Possessing sexual and/or romantic attraction towards people one perceives to be the same sex or gender as oneself.e.g.“Cliff is gay, but his twin brother is straight.”
- Homosexual:; Describing a homosexual man.e.g.“gay and lesbian people”
- Homosexual:; Tending to partner or mate with other individuals of the same sex.
- Homosexual:; Between two or more persons perceived to be of the same sex or gender as each other.e.g.“Although the number of gay weddings has increased significantly, many gay and lesbian couples — like many straight couples — are not interested in getting married.”
- Homosexual:; Not heterosexual, or not cisgender: homosexual, bisexual, asexual, transgender, etc.
- Homosexual:; Intended for gay people, especially gay men.e.g.“She professes an undying love for gay bars and gay movies, and even admits to having watched gay porn.”
- Homosexual:; Homosexually in love with someone.e.g.“[…] the pirates, who are obviously totally gay for each other […]”
- Homosexual:; Infatuated with something, aligning with homosexual stereotypes.e.g.“Vanilla straight guy here. […] Is it socially acceptable for me to good-naturedly say, "I'm totally gay for musical theater"?”
- Homosexual:; In accordance with stereotypes of homosexual people:; Being in accordance with stereotypes of gay people, especially gay men.
- Homosexual:; In accordance with stereotypes of homosexual people:; Exhibiting appearance or behavior that accords with stereotypes of gay people, especially gay men.e.g.“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.”
- Flamboyant or effeminate in behavior.
- Used to express dislike: lame, uncool, stupid, burdensome, contemptible, generally bad.e.g.“This game is gay; let’s play a different one.”
- Happy, joyful, and lively.e.g.“The Gay Science”
- Quick, fast.e.g.“I went a gay shack, / For it started to rain.”
- Festive, bright, or colourful.e.g.“Pennsylvania Dutch include the plain folk and the gay folk.”
adv
- Considerably, very.e.g.“And, tho' his guts ware lank and toom, / They're twice as big's this gay big room.”
noun
- A homosexual, especially a male homosexual.e.g.“[headline] N.Y. Gays: Will the Spark Die?”
- Gayness: the quality of being gay.e.g.“Anti-gay persecution holds that you can pray the gay out of a person, or scare it out of them, or cajole it out of them.”
- Something which is bright or colorful, such as a picture or a flower.e.g.“At a stall soon Mary bote / A hume-book full ov gays.”
- An ornament, a knick-knack.e.g.“Look upon precepts in emblems, as they do to upon gays and pictures.”
- The letter —, which stands for the sound /ɡ/, in Pitman shorthand.
verb
- To make happy or cheerful.e.g.“SAYING GOOD-BYE (song)
WE are always saying / "Good-bye, good-bye! / In work, in playing, / In gloom, in gaying […]”
- To cause (something, e.g. AIDS) to be associated with homosexual people.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.