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Ay vs Ey - What's the difference?

ay | ey |

As nouns the difference between ay and ey

is that ay is an alternative spelling of nodot=yes lang=en ("yes" while ey is an egg.

As an interjection ay

is ah! alas.

As an adverb ay

is always; ever.

As an adjective ay

is for an indefinite time.

As a pronoun ey is

they singular. Gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, coordinate with gendered pronouns {{term|he and {{term|she}}.}.

ay

English

Interjection

(en interjection)
  • Ah! alas!
  • ("yes")
  • * 1883 , (Howard Pyle), (The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood)
  • *:"Good morrow to thee, jolly fellow," quoth Robin, "thou seemest happy this merry morn."
  • *:"Ay , that am I," quoth the jolly Butcher, "and why should I not be so? Am I not hale in wind and limb? Have I not the bonniest lass in all Nottinghamshire? And lastly, am I not to be married to her on Thursday next in sweet Locksley Town?"
  • (question tag)

    • Adverb

    (-)
  • Always; ever.
  • * 1670 , John Barbour, The Acts and Life of the most victorious Conquerour Robert Bruce King of Scotland'', as cited in 1860, Thomas Corser, ''Collectanea Anglo-poetica , page 160
    • O he that hath ay lived free, [...]

    Alternative forms

    * aye

    Adjective

    (-)
  • For an indefinite time.

    • Synonyms

    * always * continually * forever

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • ("yes")
    • counting the ays and the noes in a vote

    See also

    *

    Anagrams

    * English two-letter words ----

    ey

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) ey, from (etyl) . Was displaced by egg in the 16th century, most likely due to its clashing with the word "eye", with which it had come to be a homonym.

    Noun

    (eyren) (obsolete since the sixteenth century )
  • (obsolete) an egg

    • Derived terms

    * (l)

    Etymology 2

    Compare eyot.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An island.

    • Etymology 3

    (Spivak pronouns) Coined by Christine M. Elverson by removing the "th" from (they).

    Pronoun

  • (neologism) they (singular).
  • * {{quote-news
    • , date = 1975-08-23 , title = Ey has a word for it , newspaper = Chicago Tribune , first = Judie , last = Black , section = 1 , page = 12 , passage = Eir sentences would sound smoother since ey' wouldn't clutter them with the old sexist pronouns. And if '''ey''' should trip up in the new usage, ' ey would only have emself to blame. }}
  • * {{quote-newsgroup
    • , date = 1996-12-22 , first = Shirley , last = Worth , title = New To Yoga , newsgroup = alt.yoga , id = 32BDCA0C.6C8@worth.org , url = http://groups.google.com/group/alt.yoga/msg/4c5da8eb08c0d91b , passage = I'm not familiar with this book, but I encourage Marksmill to look for it-- and while ey is at it, to also look at a number of other books. }}
  • * {{quote-newsgroup
    • , date = 1997-11-25 , first = Scott Robert , last = Dawson , title = Who Pays for Cellular Calls , newsgroup = alt.cellular , id = 347acf56.333719@news.interlog.com , url = http://groups.google.com/group/alt.cellular/msg/cffb0aa99cf205e6 , passage = If a mobile user is far from eir home area, ey will pay a long-distance fee for carriage of the call *from* eir home area, just as a caller would pay long-distance on a call *to* that area. }}
  • *
    • Synonyms
    * * (singular) they * (neologism) e, sie, shi, ze
    Coordinate terms
    * he, she

    Anagrams

    *

    See also

    * other gender-neutral pronouns * suffix -ey English third person pronouns ----