Etymologically
Log in

hay

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 14:56. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hei, inherited from Old English hēg (Anglian), also hīeg (West Saxon),[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *haujam (“that which is cut or mown”),[3][4] from the root of hēawan (“to cut”) (see hew),[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *kau- (“to hew, strike”).[3] It is cognate with Old Saxon hōi, Dutch hooi, Old High German hewi (modern German Heu) and Old Norse hey,[2][3][4] and the Old Norse word reinforced the native one.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Grass cut and dried for fodder: about 825 in the OED, before 830 in Barnhart.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Make hay while the sun shines has been a proverb since the 16th century,[7] and to make hay of, to throw into confusion, is from 1546.[6] Haycock is from 1296.[2] To hit the hay, at first to sleep in a barn, is from before 1880, hay for a bed from 1903, and a roll in the hay from 1941.[3][6] Haywire, used by North American farmers to bind bales, came to describe anything patched together, and by the 1920s to go haywire meant to go wrong.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 825 – hay.[6]
  • 1296 – haycock.[2]
  • 1546 – to make hay of.[6]
  • before 1880 – to hit the hay.[3]
  • 1920s – to go haywire.[7]
  • 1941 – a roll in the hay.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Grass, clover or similar plants cut and dried as fodder.
  2. (informal) A trifling amount of money: that's not hay.
  3. hit the hay (slang): to go to bed.
  4. make hay while the sun shines: to take full advantage of an opportunity.

Verb

  1. To cut, dry and store grass as fodder.
  2. To feed with hay.

Word family

  • hayer
  • hayey
  • hayfield
  • haylift
  • hayride
  • haywire
  • haycock
  • hayfork
  • hew
  • haystack

Usage notes

Several obsolete words are spelled hay: a hedge or enclosure, from Old English hege (about 725);[6][5] a net for catching rabbits (1389);[6] and a country dance, from Anglo-Norman haie.[5]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press