vay

See also: váy, vây, vậy, and vaþ

Translingual

Symbol

vay

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Vayu.

See also

• Wiktionary's coverage of Vayu terms

English

Verb

vay (plural vays)

1. Pronunciation spelling of way.
   • 1913 March, Jeffery Farnol, “Which Relates, among other Things, How Barnabas Lost his Hat”, in The Amateur Gentleman, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, →OCLC, page 481:

     “Going to be a fine night for a little walk,” said he, “Oliver vill be in town later on.” / “Oliver?” inquired Barnabas. / “Ah! that ’s flash for the moon, sir. Jest a nice light there ’ll be. This vay, sir.” With the words Mr. Shrig turned sharp to his left along the alley towards the River.

   • 1967, Rosamond Nugent, chapter 12, in Buried Wheat, Milwaukee, Wis.: The Bruce Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 88:

     Sister Gabriel blushed when her attempt to introduce themselves was checked with a brief, “Don’t make Herr Vater wait some more. Go this vay once.”

   • 1981, Daniel Keyes, chapter 5, in The Minds of Billy Milligan, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, book 1 (The Mix-up Time), chapter section 3, page 111:

     Ragen spoke out: “I disagree. I do not think book should be written.” / “Why not?” Allen asked. / “Let me put it this vay. Billy vill talk to this man and so vill you and the others. You might tell him things for vich I could still be charged—other crimes.”

Derived terms

• ve haf vays of making you talk

Francisco León Zoque

Noun

vay

1. hair

References

• Engel, Ralph, Allhiser de Engel, Mary, Mateo Alvarez, José (1987) Diccionario zoque de Francisco León (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 30)‎^[1] (in Spanish), México, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, page 220

Ladino

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Interjection

vay (Hebrew spelling ב׳איי)

1. hey; oi
   • 1986, Matilda Koén-Sarano, edited by Matilda Koén-Sarano, קואינטוס: סיפורים מהווי המשפחה היהודית־ספרדית‎^[2], כנה, →ISBN, page 171:

     Disho Djohá: "Vay! Este es naví! Iré detrás de él i le demandaré kuando me vo murir!"

     Djohá said, "Oi! This is [a] prophet! I'll go after him and ask him when I am going to die!"

Alternative forms

• bay

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

vay

1. second-person singular imperative of ir
   • 1997, Aki Yerushalayim‎^[3], volumes 18–19, page 36:

     Le cogió al criado y le dize: "Toma, vay llévaselo esto a mi hermano".

     [She] picked up the baby and told [someone], 'Toma, go take this to my brother'.

Malagasy

Etymology 1

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *baʀəq (“abscess, boil, swelling on the body”).

Noun

vay

1. boil

Etymology 2

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *baʀah (“ember, glowing coal”).

Noun

vay

1. glowing coal

Further reading

• vay in Malagasy dictionaries at malagasyword.org

Portuguese

Verb

vay

1. Obsolete spelling of vai.

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish وای (vay), from Persian وای (vây, “alas!”), from Proto-Indo-European *wai. Cognate with English woe, Latin vae, Lithuanian vaĩ, Russian увы́ (uvý), Old Irish fae, among others.

Interjection

vay

1. (colloquial) woe, alas!
2. (exclamation) Vay, vay, vay! (reminiscent of English exclamation "well, well, well")

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [vaj˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [vaj˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [va(ː)j˧˧] ~ [ja(ː)j˧˧]

Verb

vay • (爲, 𧹋)

1. to borrow

   cho vay ― to loan

   xin ngân hàng cho vay ― to ask a bank for a loan

   người cho vay ― creditor

Usage notes

• This is chiefly said of money. Rarely used in Southern Vietnam, where the word mượn predominates.

Zazaki

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [vɑyˈ]
• Hyphenation: vay

Noun

vay

1. Alternative form of vaye