tay

Spelling form indicating original pronunciation of tea. The digraph ea represented /eː/ in Early Modern English; it later merged chiefly with ee, but regionally or sporadically with ay (in standard English break, great, steak). Compare the song Polly put the kettle on, where tea rhymes with away.

• enPR: tā, IPA^(key): /teɪ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

tay (plural tays)

1. (obsolete or dialect) Tea.
   • 1856 October 18, The People's Advocate and New South Wales Vindicator, Sydney, page 6, column 1:

     "[T]hen the Tulip, - ah! didn't the Tulip die hard, - he fout hard for it, even after he had a hole in his head as big as a tay cup."

   • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 207:

     "There's your tay set for you an' drawin' nicely this minute, Miss Ethel," called old Bridget from the hall.

• AYT, Yat, yat

• IPA^(key): /tɑj/

Ultimately from Middle Chinese 袋 (dʌi^H).

tay (definite accusative tayı, plural taylar)

1. sack (usually used for grains or potatoes)
2. bag
3. counter for bags of grain or potato

• torba
• təlis

Ultimately from Middle Chinese 對 (tuʌi^H).

tay (definite accusative tayı, plural taylar)

1. something equal to another thing

   Bu qızın tayı yoxdur.

   This girl doesn't have any equal.

2. pair

   eşşək anqırar tayını tapar (folk idiom)

   donkey brays and finds its pair

3. one side of something; especially bank (of a river etc.)
   • 1941, Əhliman Axundov, Qaçaq Nəbi:

     Arazın o tayı da, bu tayı da, mənim doğma el obamdır

     Both this side and that side of Aras river is my homeland.

• bərabər
• cüt tərəf (side)

From Sanskrit त्वम् (tvam).

tay

1. your (singular)

• mími

tay

1. woman

• Hein van der Voort, A Grammar of Kwaza

From Middle French taye, and its source, Latin tēca, thēca, from Ancient Greek θήκη (thḗkē, “covering, sheath”).

tay (plural tays)

1. The outer membrane of the brain.
   • 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum 4”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book XXI, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:

     ryght so he smote hys fadir, Kynge Arthure, with hys swerde holdynge in both hys hondys, uppon the syde of the hede, that the swerde perced the helmet and the tay of the brayne.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “tei and teie, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 25 September 2020.

tay

1. Alternative form of þei

tay

1. big

• (Izalco) tey (/ˈteːj/)

From Proto-Nahuan *tla-. Compare Classical Nahuatl tlein (“what”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈtaːj/

tay

1. (interroɡative) what

   Tay tikwaj yalua?

   What did you eat yesterday?

2. (relative) what; that which; the thing that

   Tesu nikmati ne tay inak

   I dont't know what she/he said

From Old Anatolian Turkish [script needed] (tay), from Proto-Turkic [Term?]. Cognate with Kazakh тай (tai), Chuvash тиха (tih̬a), тӑйха (tăjh̬a).

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɑj/

tay (definite accusative tayı, plural taylar)

1. colt (horse)

From Proto-Vietic *siː. Cognate with Thavung ซี.

The relationship between this root and the root represented by Khmer ដៃ (day), Bahnar ti, Juang iti is uncertain. Sora siˀi is likely a post-Proto-Munda development, as other Munda reflexes show /t/.

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [taj˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [taj˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ta(ː)j˧˧]
• Homophone: tai (in some Southern accents)

• Audio (Hà Nội)

  (file)

tay • (𢬣, 𪮏, 拪, 揌)

1. (colloquial) a hand

   quẹo bên tay phải ― to turn right (to the right-hand side)

2. (colloquial) an arm

   tay áo ― a sleeve

3. (informal) a guy; a dude

   Tay này không phải vừa đâu!

   He’s not the type to be trifled with!