guy

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡaɪ/^[1]

guy¹ rope

Etymology

The rope is, on the usual account, inherited from Middle English gye (“a guide”), borrowed from Old French guie (“a guide; a crane”),^[2][3][4][5] from guier (“to guide”),^[3][5] from Frankish *witan (“to show the way”).^[2] It is related to guide.^[5][3] Hoad, Merriam-Webster and the Concise Oxford instead derive it from Low German, comparing Dutch gei (“brail”),^[6][7][8] and the Shorter Oxford takes only the old sense “guide” from French and the rope from Low German.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A guide, a leader: about 1350, a sense now obsolete,^[10][2] and in the compound girap “guy rope”, 1371.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The nautical sense, a rope that steadies or guides something being hoisted, dates from 1623.^[3][10][7] The verb “to secure with a guy” is from 1712.^[3][11] Sailors' slang had clap a guy on, “to put a stop to”, from 1814.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – a guide, leader.^[10]
• 1371 – girap, guy rope.^[3]
• 1623 – a steadying rope.^[3][10]
• 1712 – verb, to secure with a guy.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A rope, chain or cable used to steady, guide or secure something, such as a mast or tent.

Verb

1. To steady or secure with a guy.

guy² fellow

Etymology

The fellow comes from the name of Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), leader of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 to blow up the King and Parliament.^[3][2][9] His effigy, paraded through the streets by children on the anniversary and burnt on a bonfire on 5 November, was called a guy from 1806.^[3][2][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

An effigy of Guy Fawkes: 1806.^[3][2][10]

Semantic evolution

From the ragged effigy, guy came to mean a grotesquely dressed person in 1836.^[3][2][10] The sense “man, fellow” is first recorded in 1847, in American English according to Etymonline and the OED.^[2][10] Barnhart instead says it began in Britain and became popular in the United States in the late 1800s, its first American use being in George Ade's Artie (1896).^[3] Fall guy, wise guy and tough guy are American.^[12] Guy “to make fun of” began as theatrical slang in the mid-19th century.^[12][9] Guys now also refers to people of either sex.^[13][12]

Timeline

• 1806 – an effigy of Guy Fawkes.^[3][10]
• 1825 – Guy Fawkes Day.^[10]
• 1836 – a grotesquely dressed person.^[3][10]
• 1847 – a man, a fellow.^[2][10]
• mid-19th century – verb, to ridicule.^[12]
• 1896 – American use in George Ade's Artie.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (informal) A man; a fellow.
2. (informal, plural) People of either sex.
3. (chiefly British) A person of odd or grotesque dress.
4. An effigy of Guy Fawkes burnt on Guy Fawkes Night.

Verb

1. To make fun of; to ridicule.

Related words

• guide
• fellow
• bloke
• chap

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 c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin