hey - Wikiwand

Pronunciation

enPR: hā, IPA^(key): /heɪ/
Audio (US): (file)
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Homophone: hay
Rhymes: -eɪ

Etymology 1

From Middle English hey, hei, also without h- in ey, from Old English *hē, ēa (interjection), attested as first element in 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”), Old Norse, Icelandic and Norwegian hei (“hey”), Polish hej (“hey, hello”), Romanian hei, Russian эй (ej, “hey”); 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 哎 (āi), and various sound-alikes as Ancient Greek εἶα (eîa) and Latin eia, eho, Sanskrit हे (he). See also hello.

Alternative forms

hay
heigh

Interjection

hey

An exclamation to get attention.
Hey, look at this!

Hey! Listen!
A protest or reprimand.
Hey! Stop that!
An expression of surprise.
Hey! This is new!
An informal greeting, similar to hi.
Hey! How's it going?
A request for repetition or explanation; an expression of confusion.
Hey? How's that?
Used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said.
- 1900, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, page vi. 54:
  "Who 's a cur - now - hey?"
A meaningless beat marker or extra, filler syllable in song lyrics.
The chorus is "nana na na, nana na na hey hey hey, goodbye".

Synonyms

(exclamation to get attention): oi, yo; see also Thesaurus:hey
(expression of surprise): blimey, gee whiz, yowzah; see also Thesaurus:wow
(for repetition or explanation): eh, huh
(informal greeting): hi, howdy, wotcher; see also Thesaurus:hello

Derived terms

Translations

exclamation to get attention

Arabic: يَاه (yāh), اسمع
Egyptian Arabic: بقولك ايه

Hijazi Arabic: هيه (hē), ياهو (yāhō)
Armenian: հեյ (hy) (hey)
Belarusian: гэй (hej), эй (ej)
Bulgarian: хей (hej)
Catalan: ep (ca), ei (ca)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 喂 (wai³)

Mandarin: 喂 (zh) (wèi), 哎 (zh) (āi), 嗨 (zh) (hāi), 嘿 (zh) (hēi)
Czech: hele (cs), hej (cs)
Danish: hallo (da)
Dutch: hé (nl), ^{(please verify)} hé daar
Esperanto: he (eo), hej (eo)
Estonian: hei (et)
Finnish: hei (fi)
French: hé (fr)
Galician: oi (gl), ei (gl), eh (gl)
German: Hallo (de)
Greek:
Ancient: οὗτος m (hoûtos), αὕτη f (haútē), ἄγε sg (áge), ἄγετε pl (ágete)
Hindi: अरे (hi) (are), अजी (hi) (ajī), हे (hi) (he), रे (hi) (re)
Hungarian: hé (hu), hahó (hu), figyelj, figyu
Irish: hé, hóigh
Italian: ehi, ou
Japanese: おい (ja) (oi), ねえ (nē)
Kapampangan: ne, na
Korean: 이봐 (ibwa), 어이 (ko) (eoi), 야 (ko) (ya)
Latgalian: dzie, klaus
Latin: heus, eho, salve (la), (to multiple people) salvete (la)
Latvian: klau, eu (lv)
Louisiana Creole French: hé
Malay: hei (ms)
Maori: ētē, hā
Mongolian: хөөе (mn) (xööjö)
Occitan: èp (oc)
Persian: هی (fa) (hey), هلا (fa) (halâ)
Polish: hej (pl), ej (pl), e (pl)
Portuguese: ei (pt)
Romanian: hei (ro)
Russian: эй (ru) (ej)
Scottish Gaelic: hòigh, haoidh
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: хеј

Roman: hej (sh)
Spanish: oír (es) (imperative), hey (es), ey (es), eh (es), hao (es) (especially at a distance)
Swedish: hallå (sv)
Tagalog: hoy (tl), uy, oy, huy, oi, ui
Ukrainian: гей (uk) (hej), ей (ej)
Vietnamese: ê (vi), này (vi), ơi (vi)

protest or reprimand

Armenian: հեյ (hy) (hey), էյ (hy) (ēy)
Catalan: ep (ca)
Danish: hallo (da)
Dutch: hé (nl), hela (nl), ho (nl), hola (nl)
Estonian: hei (et)
Finnish: hei (fi)
French: hé (fr)
German: ey (de)
Hungarian: állj (hu), ácsi (hu)
Italian: ehi
Japanese: おい (ja) (oi)
Kapampangan: na, ot, oi
Polish: ej (pl), ejże, hola (pl)
Portuguese: ei (pt), epa, opa (pt)
Russian: эй (ru) (ej), э (ru) (e)
Spanish: oír (es) (imperative), hey (es), ey (es), eh (es)
Swedish: hallå (sv)
Tagalog: hoy (tl), uy, oy, huy, oi, ui
Vietnamese: ê (vi)

expression of surprise

Dutch: hè (nl), huh (nl)
Estonian: ohoh, ohoo (et)
Finnish: oh-hoh
French: holà (fr)
Hungarian: nocsak (hu), nahát (hu)
Japanese: オラ (ora)
Polish: o (pl), ojej (pl)
Portuguese: epa, opa (pt)
Romanian: hop (ro)
Russian: ой (ru) (oj), ух ты (ru) (ux ty), ого́ (ru) (ogó), ого́ (ru) (ohó)
Spanish: hey (es), ey (es), eh (es), oír (es) (imperative)
Swedish: hallå (sv), oj (sv)
Tagalog: uy, oy, oi, ui, talaga, a (tl), ah

informal greeting

Alutor: [script needed] (mej)
Arabic: هَلَا (halā)
Armenian: հեյ (hy) (hey), ողջույն (hy) (oġǰuyn)
Asturian: ei (ast)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 嗨 (zh) (hāi)
Danish: hej (da)
Dutch: hoi (nl), hé (nl)
Esperanto: hej (eo)
Finnish: hei (fi), terve (fi), moro (fi)
French: coucou (fr)
Hungarian: hahó (hu), helló (hu)
Irish: hóigh
Japanese: ヘイ (ja) (hei)
Kapampangan: na, oi
Latin: eho
Louisiana Creole French: hé
Polish: hej (pl)
Portuguese: oi (pt), e aí (pt)
Russian: о (ru) (o) (colloquial), ку-ку (ru) (ku-ku) (familiar)
Scottish Gaelic: hòigh
Spanish: hey (es), ey (es), eh (es), hola (es), hopa (es) (Colombia)
Swedish: hej (sv), hejsan (sv), tjena (sv)
Tagalog: hoy (tl), uy, oy, huy, oi, ui, ei

request for repetition or explanation

Catalan: eh (ca)
Finnish: hei (fi)
Hungarian: micsoda (hu)
Kapampangan: na
Portuguese: hã, hem (pt)
Russian: что (ru) (što), чо (ru) (čo) (colloquial, close to vulgar)
Spanish: hey (es), ey (es), eh (es), oír (es) (imperative)
Tagalog: huy, uy, oy, ui, ei

meaningless beat marker, filler syllable

Finnish: hei (fi)
Latin: o (la), ō (la), jo
Portuguese: é (pt), hey (pt)
Swedish: hej (sv)
Tagalog: hoy (tl), uy, ui, oy, huy

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

Translations to be checked

French: ^{(please verify)} hé (fr), ^{(please verify)} eh (fr), ^{(please verify)} hep (fr)
Slovene: ^{(please verify)} hej, ^{(please verify)} ej
Swedish: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) ^{(please verify)} hallå (sv), (4) ^{(please verify)} tja (sv), (4, 6) ^{(please verify)} hej (sv), (6) ^{(please verify)} hej hå

Etymology 2

From French haie (“hedge”), with reference to the weaving patterns used in hedgelaying. Doublet of hedge and quay.

Noun

hey (plural heys)

(country dancing) A choreographic figure in which three or more dancers weave between one another, passing by left and right shoulder alternately.

Translations

country dancing figure

Danish: hej (da)
Dutch: hey (nl)

Etymology 3

See he.

Noun

hey (plural heys)

Alternative spelling of he (“Hebrew letter”)

Anagrams

Yeh, hye, yeh

Declension of *hey* (neuter)
	singular	plural
indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	hey	heyið	hey	heyin
accusative	hey	heyið	hey	heyin
dative	heyi	heyinu	heyjum	heyjunum
genitive	heys	heysins	heyja	heyjanna

Etymology 1

From Old English hīġ, hīeġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hawi, from Proto-Germanic *hawją (“hay”).

Noun

hey (uncountable)

Alternative forms

heyȝ, heygh, hay, ay, heyn, hayn, hei, heiȝ, heigh, hai, hain

Descendants

English: hay
Scots: hey
Yola: hye

References

“hei, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From Old English *hē, ēa. See English hey for more.

Interjection

hey

Alternative forms

hay, ay, he, heh, heigh

Descendants

English: hey
Scots: hey
Yola: ha

References

“hei, interj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

Noun

hey

Alternative form of heye (“hedge”)

Etymology 4

Noun

hey (uncountable)

Alternative form of hye (“haste”)

Etymology 5

Pronoun

hey

Alternative form of he (“he”)

Etymology 6

Pronoun

hey

Alternative form of he (“they”)

Etymology 7

Verb

hey (third-person singular simple present heyeth, present participle heyende, heyynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle heyed)

Alternative form of heien (“to lift up”)

Etymology 8

Pronoun

hey (comparative heyer, superlative heyest)

Alternative form of heigh (“high”)

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Interjection

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Etymology 2

Noun

Translations

Etymology 3

Noun

See also

Anagrams

Faroese

Etymology

Pronunciation

Interjection

Icelandic

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

Alternative forms

Descendants

References

Etymology 2

Interjection

Alternative forms

Descendants

References

Etymology 3

Noun

Etymology 4

Noun

Etymology 5

Pronoun

Etymology 6

Pronoun

Etymology 7

Verb

Etymology 8

Pronoun

Portuguese

Verb

Somali

Verb

Spanish

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Interjection

Related terms

Further reading

Yola

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun

References