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guay

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word guay

guay1 alas, woe

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1250 Bocados de oro, in a 15th-century copy
Borrowed from
Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *wai

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɡwai/, [ˈɡwai̯][1]

Etymology

The interjection of grief is borrowed from Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹 (wai, “woe”) for the BDELC, the DLE and Nascentes, and for Coromines, who argued the point in the DCECH.[2][3][4][5] The DLE calls the Gothic word an imitation of a cry of lament.[3] Wiktionary leaves open whether it comes from Gothic or from Latin vae (“alas, woe”),[1] and the Houaiss derives Portuguese guai from the Latin word.[6]

Corriente derives it instead from an Andalusian Arabic interjection of grief, which he transcribes wáy, and its noun of unity wáya “lament”, the source of guaya; he argues that there is no universal, instinctive cry of pain, so that the Spanish forms cannot be separated from the Arabic ones around them.[7][8] DICCA-XV follows him,[9] and the DLE compares the Andalusian Arabic word.[3] Coromines takes the Tortosa interjection of surprise, unlike the Catalan cry of grief, from Arabic.[5]

The Gothic word continues Proto-Germanic *wai, the source also of woe;[10][11] Kroonen sets it beside the Latin interjection and similar cries in other Indo-European languages.[10][11] De Vaan thinks these are probably independent imitative words, though common inheritance cannot be ruled out.[12] The same interjection is Catalan guai and Italian guai.[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Bocados de oro (before 1250, in a 15th-century copy) has ¡guay del que sabe! e non le aprovecha el saber “woe to him who knows, and knowledge does not profit him”.[13][14] The New Testament of Escorial manuscript I-j-6 (before 1260, in a copy of the mid-13th century) has Uay de ti, Bethsayda! “woe to you, Bethsaida!”.[13]

Semantic evolution

The interjection was usually followed by de and the person threatened or pitied;[15] Domínguez in 1846 notes its use in threats such as guay de ti, si llegas a decirlo.[15] Nebrija gives it as an interjection of pain, Latin heu or vae,[9] and Percyvall in 1591 glosses it “alas, wo”.[16] The Diccionario de Autoridades refers it to ay and records tener muchos guayes “to suffer many ailments or misfortunes”.[17] From 1817 the Academy marked the word as old, beside guaya “lament” and hacer la guaya “to make much of one's troubles to win pity”.[18] The DRAE of 2001 calls it poetic, and the DLE obsolete and poetic.[19][3]

In Andalusia it was still used in popular speech in the 20th century, above all in proverbs such as ¡Guay de la molinera, que al molinero el agua le lleva!.[20] In the Dominican Republic it is an interjection equivalent to ay.[21] The first records from the Americas are from Guatemala in 1540.[22]

Timeline

  • c. 1250 – the Bocados de oro (in a 15th-century copy) has ¡guay del que sabe!.[13]
  • c. 1260 – the Escorial New Testament has Uay de ti, Bethsayda!.[13]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija gives guai as an interjection of pain.[9]
  • 1540 – the first record from the Americas, in Guatemala.[22]
  • 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “alas, wo”.[16]
  • 1817 – the Academy marks it as old and adds guaya “lament”.[18]
  • 2001 – the Academy's dictionary calls it poetic.[19]

Meanings

Interjection

  1. (obsolete, poetic) alas, woe: ¡Guay de ti![3][1][17]
  2. (Dominican Republic) Ouch, oh (as ay).[21]

guay2 cool, great

Confidence
Unknown

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɡwai/, [ˈɡwai̯][1]

Forms

guay m or f (masculine and feminine plural guay or guais)[1]

Etymology

The colloquial word for “cool, great” of Spain is of unknown origin; the DLE gives no etymology for it.[1][3] Wiktionary mentions two guesses: a connection with French gai, Italian gaio and English gay, words of Germanic origin, or a borrowing of Arabic كُوَيِّس (kuwayyis, “good”).[1]

Semantic evolution

The word is colloquial and limited to Spain.[3][23] León's dictionary of slang of 1980 records it as an adjective “very good” and adverb “very well”, with the playful extension guay del Paraguay and the phrase estar a la guay “to be on the alert”.[24] Moliner and VOX give the same two uses, and VOX also guay del Paraguay.[25][23] It has been borrowed as Asturian guai, Catalan guai and Galician guai.[1]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (colloquial, Spain) Very good, great, cool: Tu hermana tiene una moto muy guay.[3][1][25]

Adverb

  1. (colloquial, Spain) Very well, great: Este grupo toca guay.[3][1][25]

Interjection

  1. (Spain) Cool!, great![1]
  • guaya
  • guayar

Usage notes

The plural of guay “cool” is guay or guais.[1] The old phrase tener muchos guayes “to suffer many ailments or misfortunes”, now obsolete, belongs to the interjection (guay 1), used as a noun.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. guay
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. guay
  4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. guai!
  5. ^ a b c Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 4, 687
  6. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. guai
  7. ^ Corriente, Federico (1999), Diccionario de arabismos y voces afines en iberorromance, Madrid: Gredos, p. 336
  8. ^ Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. guay
  9. ^ a b c Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. guay
  10. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 566
  11. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 321
  12. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  13. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. guay
  14. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. guay
  15. ^ a b Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 900
  16. ^ a b Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 149
  17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 92
  18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 454
  19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. guay
  20. ^ Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 308
  21. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. guay
  22. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. guay
  23. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. guay
  24. ^ León, Víctor (1980), Diccionario de argot español y lenguaje popular, Madrid: Alianza Editorial, p. s.v. guay
  25. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. guay

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Guay.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/guay. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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