hey

interjectionverbnounnountop 1 000 in film dialogue

//heɪ//

An exclamation to get attention.

interjection

1
informalAn exclamation to get attention.
Hey, look at this!
Hey! Listen!
2
informalA protest or reprimand.
Hey! Stop that!
3
informalAn expression of surprise.
Hey! This is new!
4
informalAn informal greeting, similar to hi.
Hey! How's it going?
5
informalA request for repetition or explanation; an expression of confusion.
Hey? How's that?
6
informalUsed as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said.
"Who 's a cur - now - hey?"
7
informalA meaningless beat marker or extra, filler syllable in song lyrics.
The chorus is "nana na na, nana na na hey hey hey, goodbye".

Etymology

From Middle English hey, hei, also without h- in ey, from Old English *hē, ēa (interjection), attested as first element in hēlā, ēalā (“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”). Cognate with Dutch hé, hei (“hi, hey”), German hei (“hey, wow”), Danish and Swedish hej (“hello, hey”), Faroese hey (“hey, hello”), Old Norse, Icelandic and Norwegian hei (“hey”), Polish hej (“hey, hello”), Romanian hei, Russian эй (ej, “hey”); see heigh. Probably a natural expression, as may be inferred from its presence with similar meaning in many other unrelated languages: for example, Burmese ဟေး (he:), Finnish hei, Unami hè, and Mandarin 哎 (āi), and various sound-alikes as Ancient Greek εἶα (eîa) and Latin eia, eho, Sanskrit हे (he). See also hello.

verb

1
informalTo greet with a "hey"

noun

1
informalA choreographic figure in which three or more dancers weave between one another, passing by left and right shoulder alternately.

Etymology

From French haie (“hedge”), with reference to the weaving patterns used in hedgelaying. Doublet of hedge and quay.

noun

1
Variant of heinformalAlternative spelling of he (“Hebrew letter”).

Etymology

See he.

Forms

plural: heys
past tense: heyed
past participle: heyed
present participle: heying
third person singular: heys

hetty · A heterosexual.Hetty · A diminutive of the female given names Henrietta, Hester and…Hewes · A surname originating as a patronymic.

hey · An exclamation to get attention.

Hey · A surname.hi · A friendly, informal, casual greeting said upon someone's…Hi · A male given name, a short form of Hiram

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.