Etymologically
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gay

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 18:46. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɡeɪ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gay,[2] borrowed from Old French gai (“joyful, happy; pleasant, charming; pert; light-colored”),[3][4][5] which is also the source of Spanish gayo, Portuguese gaio and Italian gajo.[3] The further origin is disputed:[3] perhaps it is from Frankish *gahi, related to Old High German gāhi “rapid, impetuous”,[3][4][2] but not all etymologists accept this, and Hoad and the NODE call it of unknown origin.[3][5][6] It was used as a surname from 1178.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Splendid, beautiful: about 1300,[4] the early 14th century in Etymonline.[3] The sense “full of joy, merry, light-hearted” is from before 1310 in the OED[7] and about 1380 in Barnhart.[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the word described showy, rich, bright things and people dressed in finery, as well as merry ones.[3] A hint of immorality goes back at least to the 1630s, if not to Chaucer;[3] from 1637 it meant “addicted to social pleasures and dissipations”, often a euphemism for loose living,[7][8] as in gay dog, a man fond of revelry, from the mid-19th century.[8] In 19th-century slang a gay woman was a prostitute (1825).[7] The sense “homosexual” was a self-description among homosexuals from shortly after the First World War,[9] found unambiguously in the 1920s;[8] Green dates the noun to about 1925,[9] the New Partridge the adjective to 1933 and the noun to 1953.[10] Barnhart and Green connect it with the tramp slang gay cat, the young companion of an older tramp (about 1935).[4][9] It appears in psychological writing in the late 1940s,[3] and its wide use outside the gay community began about 1970, with the Gay Liberation Front.[9] It is now the main meaning,[8] and has made the older senses rare.[11]

Timeline

  • 1178 – as a surname.[4]
  • c. 1300 – splendid, beautiful.[4]
  • before 1310 – merry, light-hearted.[7]
  • 1637 – given to pleasures and dissipation.[7]
  • 1825 – of a woman, living by prostitution.[7]
  • 1920s – homosexual.[8]
  • c. 1925 – noun, a homosexual man.[9]
  • c. 1970 – general use in the homosexual sense.[9]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Homosexual; of or relating to homosexual people and their community.
  2. (dated) Merry, light-hearted and cheerful.
  3. (dated) Bright or lively, especially in color.
  4. (dated) Given to social pleasures; dissolute.

Noun

  1. A gay person, especially a man.

Word family

  • gayness
  • gaiety
  • gayety
  • nosegay
  • gaily
  • queer
  • lesbian

Usage notes

Gay is now the standard term for homosexual people and is usually lowercased; many reserve it for men and say gay and lesbian for both.[11] It emphasizes the social and cultural side of homosexuality,[11] and many gay people prefer it to homosexual.[12] As a noun for particular individuals (two gays on the panel) it may be found offensive, but the plural for the community is acceptable.[11]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  10. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
  11. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins