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Hey vs Ey - What's the difference?

hey | ey |

As nouns the difference between hey and ey

is that hey is a choreographic figure in which the dancers weave between one another while ey is an egg.

As an interjection hey

is an exclamation to get attention.

As a pronoun ey is

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

hey

English

Alternative forms

* (l) * (l)

Interjection

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

    Related terms

    * heyday * what the hey * hey up

    See also

    * huh * hay is for horses * (wikipedia "hey")

    Noun

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

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    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 ----