gai

See also: Gai, gái, gài, gãi, gāi, gǎi, and ga'i

Basque

Etymology

Of unknown origin. Probably from the suffix -gai, and not the other way round.^[1]

Pronunciation

Audio: (file)

IPA^(key): /ɡai̯/ [ɡai̯]
Rhymes: -ai̯
Hyphenation: gai

Noun

gai inan

Declension

Declension of gai (inanimate, ending in vowel)

	indefinite	singular	plural
absolutive	gai	gaia	gaiak
ergative	gaik	gaiak	gaiek
dative	gairi	gaiari	gaiei
genitive	gairen	gaiaren	gaien
comitative	gairekin	gaiarekin	gaiekin
causative	gairengatik	gaiarengatik	gaiengatik
benefactive	gairentzat	gaiarentzat	gaientzat
instrumental	gaiez	gaiaz	gaiez
inessive	gaitan	gaian	gaietan
locative	gaitako	gaiko	gaietako
allative	gaitara	gaira	gaietara
terminative	gaitaraino	gairaino	gaietaraino
directive	gaitarantz	gairantz	gaietarantz
destinative	gaitarako	gairako	gaietarako
ablative	gaitatik	gaitik	gaietatik
partitive	gairik	—	—
prolative	gaitzat	—	—

Derived terms

gai izan (“to be capable of”)

References

^ “gai” in Etymological Dictionary of Basque by R. L. Trask, sussex.ac.uk

Catalan

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈɡaj]

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Etymology 1

From Old Occitan gai. Compare Sicilian javiu.

Adjective

gai (feminine gaia, masculine plural gais, feminine plural gaies)

gay, merry
Synonyms: alegre, festiu

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English gay.

Adjective

gai m or f (masculine and feminine plural gais)

gay, homosexual

Noun

gai m (plural gais)

gay man

Cebuano

Etymology

Shortening.

Pronunciation

Hyphenation: ga‧i

Verb

gai

Short for tagai.

French

Etymology

From Old French gai, from Old Occitan gai, from Gothic *𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*gaheis, “impetuous”);^[1] or from Frankish *gāhi (“fast, sudden, impetuous”), Frankish *wāhi (“pretty”),^[2] both from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz (“lively, fast, quick”); or (per Liberman, Chance, Meier) from Latin vagus (“wandering, inconstant, flighty”), with *[w] → [ɡ] as in French gaine.^[3] Doublet of vague in that case.

Cognate with English gay and Italian gaio.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɡɛ/, /ɡe/
Audio: (file)
Homophones: gaie, gaies, gais, gay, gays, guet, guets
Rhymes: -ɛ

Adjective

gai (feminine gaie, masculine plural gais, feminine plural gaies)

cheerful; merry
gay; homosexual

Antonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

gaillard

Descendants

Louisiana Creole: gé

References

^ Picoche, Jacqueline with Jean-Claude Rolland (2009) “gai”, in Dictionnaire étymologique du français (in French), Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert
^ Dauzat, Albert with Jean Dubois, Henri Mitterand (1964) Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique (in French), Paris: Librairie Larousse
^ http://blog.oup.com/2012/02/word-origin-roots-gay/

Anagrams

agi

Irish

Noun

gai m (genitive singular gai, nominative plural gaethe)

Obsolete spelling of gae (“spear, dart; ray”).

Mutation

Mutated forms of *gai*
radical	lenition	eclipsis
gai	ghai	ngai

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Italian

Adjective

gai

masculine plural of gaio

Anagrams

AGI, agi, agì, già

Japanese

Romanization

gai

Rōmaji transcription of がい

Mandarin

Romanization

gai

Nonstandard spelling of gāi.
Nonstandard spelling of gǎi.
Nonstandard spelling of gài.

Usage notes

Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Old French

Etymology

From Old Occitan gai.

Adjective

gai m (oblique and nominative feminine singular gaie)

happy; cheerful; gay

Descendants

Middle French: gay
- French: gai
→ Middle English: gay
- English: gay
- Yola: gaaye, gaay, gay, gai
→ Middle Dutch: gay
- Dutch: gei, gaai

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Probably from Latin gaudium (“joy”), as borrowed from Old Occitan gai;^[1] alternatively of Germanic origin. Cognate with English gay and Italian gaio.

Adjective

gai

happy; joyous
- late 13rd century - early 14th century, Fernando Esquio, A un frade dizem escarallado:
  Cuid'eu que gai é, de piss'arreitado
  I believe he gets happy when his dick's erect

Descendants

Galician: gaio
Portuguese: gaio

References

^ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “gayo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

Old Occitan

Etymology

Perhaps of Germanic origin and from Frankish *gahi, from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz (“quick, lively, fast”).

Adjective

gai m or f (plural gais)

happy; joyous
- c. 1145, Bernard de Ventadour, Lo gens tems de pascor:
  Per que tuih amador
  Son gai e chantador
  For all the lovers
  are joyous and full of song

Descendants

Occitan: gai
→ Old French: gai
- Middle French: gay
  - French: gai
- → Middle English: gay
  - English: gay
  - Yola: gaaye, gaay, gay, gai
- → Middle Dutch: gay
  - Dutch: gei, gaai
→ Old Galician-Portuguese: gai
- Galician: gaio
- Portuguese: gaio

Papiamentu

Etymology

From Portuguese galo and Spanish gallo.

Noun

gai

rooster

Rohingya

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun

gai

cow

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ɣaːj˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ɣaːj˧˧]
(Saigon) IPA^(key): [ɣaːj˧˧]
Audio (Hà Nội): (file)

Etymology 1

From Proto-Vietic *t-keː. Cognate with Arem takeː ("horn"), Proto-Bahnaric *ʔəkɛː (whence Bahnar ake/hơke) and Proto-Katuic *kii, *ʔakii (whence Pacoh ki (“horn on nose, single tusk of rhino”)).

Alternative forms

(North Central Vietnam) cây

Noun

(classifier cái) gai • (荄, 核, 𣘃)

Etymology 2

From Proto-Vietic *-keː (“ramie”).

Alternative forms

(North Central Vietnam) cây

Noun

(classifier cây) gai • (荄, 𦃮)

ramie

Anagrams

gia

West Makian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɡa.i/

Verb

gai

(stative) to be dead

Conjugation

Conjugation of gai (stative verb)
		singular	plural
		singular	inclusive	exclusive
1st person		tigai	migai	agai
2nd person		nigai	figai
3rd person	inanimate	igai	digai
3rd person	animate	magai	digai
imperative		—, gai	—, gai

Alternative forms

gei

Derived terms

fagei (“to kill (of non-humans)”)
magei (“dead, to die”)

References

Dick Teljeur (1982) Short Wordlists from South Halmahera, Kayoa, Makian, Ternate, Tidore, and Bacan‎^[1], Pacific linguistics
James Collins (1982) Further Notes Towards a West Makian Vocabulary‎^[2], Pacific linguistics

Yola

Adjective

gai

Alternative form of gaaye
- 1867, “DR. RUSSELL ON THE INHABITANTS AND DIALECT OF THE BARONY OF FORTH”, in APPENDIX:
  Gai Gaffort,
  Gay Gifford.

References

Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 126

Zhuang

Pronunciation

(Standard Zhuang) IPA^(key): /kaːi˨˦/
Tone numbers: gai¹
Hyphenation: gai

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Etymology 1

From Chinese 街 (MC kea|keaj, “street”). Cognate with Bouyei gaail and Tày cai. Compare Cantonese 街 (gaai1).

Noun

gai (Sawndip form 街, 1957–1982 spelling gai)

street

Etymology 2

From Proto-Tai *p.qaːjᴬ (“to sell”). Cognate with Thai ขาย (kǎai), Northern Thai ᨡᩣ᩠ᨿ, Lao ຂາຍ (khāi), Lü ᦃᦻ (ẋaay), Tai Dam ꪄꪱꪥ, Shan ၶၢႆ (khǎai), Ahom 𑜁𑜩 (khay), Bouyei gaail. Compare Proto-Kam-Sui *kwe¹ (“to sell”) (whence Sui beel).

Verb

gai (Sawndip forms 𰷔 or ⿰改賣 or ⿰賣亥 or 皆 or 該 or 开 or 𬻦 or ⿱夫⿰丿丨 or ⿰出卖 or ⿰卖该 or ⿲丶开丶, 1957–1982 spelling gai)

to sell
Synonym: siu

Antonym: cawx

Derived terms

[1] “gai” in Etymological Dictionary of Basque by R. L. Trask, sussex.ac.uk

[2] Picoche, Jacqueline with Jean-Claude Rolland (2009) “gai”, in Dictionnaire étymologique du français (in French), Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert

[3] Dauzat, Albert with Jean Dubois, Henri Mitterand (1964) Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique (in French), Paris: Librairie Larousse

[4] ttps://blog.oup.com/2012/02/word-origin-roots-gay/

[5] Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “gayo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

[1]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[1]

gai

Basque

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Derived terms

References

Further reading

Catalan

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Adjective

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Adjective

Noun

Further reading

Cebuano

Etymology

Pronunciation

Verb

French

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adjective

Antonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

References

Further reading

Anagrams

Irish

Noun

Mutation

Italian

Adjective

Anagrams

Japanese

Romanization

Mandarin

Romanization

Usage notes

Old French

Etymology

Adjective

Descendants

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Adjective

Descendants

References

Old Occitan

Etymology

Adjective

Descendants

Papiamentu

Etymology

Noun

Rohingya

Pronunciation

Noun

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Noun

See also

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Noun

See also

Anagrams

West Makian

Pronunciation

Verb

Conjugation

Alternative forms

Derived terms