Hey

Pronunciation

• enPR: hā, IPA: /heɪ/
• Homophones: hay
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Alternative forms

• hay
• heigh

Origin

From Middle English hey, hei, also without h- in ey, from Old English *hē, ēa, attested as first element in Old English hēlā, ēalā ("O!, alas!, oh!, lo!"). Cognate with Dutch he, hei ("hi, hey"), German hei ("hey, wow"), Danish and Swedish hej ("hello, hey"), Faroese hey ("hey, hello"), Icelandic hei ("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, Finnish hei, Unami hè, and Mandarin Chinese 哎, and various sound-alikes as Roman eho, Greek εἴα, Latin eia, Sanskrit हे. See also hello.

Full definition of hey

Interjection

1. An exclamation to get attention.''Hey, look at this!
2. A protest or reprimand.''Hey! Stop that!
3. An expression of surprise.''Hey! This is new!
4. (US, Australia and Canada) An informal greeting, similar to hi.''Hey! How's it going?
5. A request for repetition or explanation; an expression of confusion (see also eh, huh).''Hey? How's that?
6. A meaningless beat marker or extra, filler syllable in musical lyrics.''The chorus is "nana na na, nana na na hey hey hey, good bye"

Related terms

• heyday
• what the hey
• hey up

Noun

1. (country dancing) A choreographic figure in which the dancers weave between one another.

Anagrams

• yeh