tay
/teɪ/ noun, proper noun
Also a form of tea
Forms tays
- noun (obsolete or dialect) Tea.
- proper noun The longest river in Scotland, United Kingdom, originating on the slopes of Ben Lui and flowing eastwards through the city of Perth before becoming an estuary, the Firth of Tay.
- proper noun A river in Lanark County, Ontario, Canada, a left tributary of the Rideau.
- proper noun A township in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A diminutive of the unisex given name Taylor.
Etymology
Spelling form indicating original pronunciation of tea. The digraph ea represented /ɛː/ 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.
Possibly from Proto-Brythonic Tausa (“silent, strong, or flowing”).
Borrowed from Hokkien 鄭/郑 (Tēⁿ), Teochew 鄭/郑 (dên7), Hokkien 戴 (Tè), or a variant of the English surname Tee.
Clipping of Taylor.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “tay”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details