gay

English

/ɡeɪ/

adj
Definitions
  • (dated) Happy, joyful, and lively.
  • (dated) Quick, fast.
  • (dated) Festive, bright, or colourful.
  • (obsolete) Sexually promiscuous (of any gender), (sometimes particularly) engaged in prostitution.
  • Homosexual:
  • (of a dog's tail) Upright or curved over the back.
  • (Scotland) Considerable, great, large in number, size, or degree.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English gay derived from Old French gai (gay, cheerful, happy, merry, laughing, joyful) derived from Old Occitan gai (joyous, lively, impetuous, happy) derived from Gothic *𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃 (impetuous) derived from Old French jai (magpie, jaybird, bird, jay gl) derived from Frankish *gāhi (fast, sudden, impetuous) derived from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- (step, walk, stride) derived from Old French gai (gay, cheerful, happy, merry, laughing, joyful) derived from Latin vagus (wandering, strolling, flighty, vague, rambling, inconstant, uncertain, roaming, giddy, errant).

Origin

Latin

vagus

Gloss

wandering, strolling, flighty, vague, rambling, inconstant, uncertain, roaming, giddy, errant

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms