Wiktionary

nay

See also: Appendix:Variations of "nay"

Translingual

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Symbol

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nay

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Ngarrindjeri.

See also

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English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Middle English nai, nei, from Old Norse nei (“no”), contraction of ne (“not”) + ei (“ever”), itself from Proto-Germanic *nai (“never”), *nē (“not”). More at no.

The verb is from Middle English nayen (“to refuse, deny, gainsay”), from the interjection and adverb above.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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nay (not comparable)

  1. (archaic or regional, otherwise humorous) No. [from 12th c.]
    • 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 243:
      Duke Magnus, Duke Magnus, plight thee to me,
      I pray you still so freely;
      Say me not nay, but yes, yes!
  2. (archaic or regional) Introducing a statement, without direct negation. [from 14th c.]
    • 1876, Henry James, Roderick Hudson:
      Nay, what are you smiling at so damnably?
  3. (archaic, otherwise humorous) Or rather, or should I say; moreover (introducing a stronger and more appropriate expression than the preceding one). [from 16th c.]
    His face was dirty, nay, filthy.
    • 1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part 1, canto 2:
      […] And proved not only horse, but cows, / Nay pigs, were of the elder house: / For beasts, when man was but a piece / Of earth himself, did th' earth possess.
    • 1748, David Hume, chapter 18, in Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral, London: Oxford University Press, published 1973:
      And even in our wildest and most wandering reveries, nay in our very dreams, we shall find, if we reflect, that the imagination ran not altogether at adventures,
    • 2016 February 2, John Dryden, The works of John Dryden, Vol.7: Top English Literature (Top English Literature)‎[2], VM eBooks:
      And all rejected: Has this course been used? Arch. We grant it has not; but— King. Nay, give me leave,— I urge, from your own grant, it has not been. If then, in process of a petty sum, Both parties having not been fully heard, […]
    • 1858, Charles Kent, The Derby Ministry: A Series of Cabinet Pictures, page 237:
      Earnestly bent upon fulfilling the weighty, nay solemn, responsibilities of his office at all hazard, even at the risk of so far neglecting his parliamentary duties as to appear upon the division-list less frequently than any of his colleagues, Sir John Pakington wore the wooden spoon at the whitebait dinner, though with an air of waggery — almost as a decoration.

Usage notes

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In Early Modern English, nay was used to respond to a positive question, while no was used to respond to a negative question. Over time, this distinction disappeared.

Translations

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Interjection

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nay

  1. (archaic) No.

Derived terms

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Noun

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nay (plural nays)

  1. A vote against.
    Antonyms: aye, yea
    I vote nay, even though the motion is popular, because I would rather be right than popular.
    • 2009 January 6, “Still Broken After All These Years”, in The New York Times‎[3], archived from the original on 2018-01-26:
      Recently senators could fax in their yeas or nays to the committee chairman.
  2. A person who voted against.
    The vote is 4 in favor and 20 opposed; the nays have it.
  3. (archaic) A denial; a refusal.[1]

Verb

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nay (third-person singular simple present nays, present participle naying, simple past and past participle nayed)

  1. (obsolete) To refuse.

Adjective

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nay (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Nary; not any
    'Tis easy to do this experiment, though nay substance will do: we shall need a special one.
    Nay man could have come out of such a situation unscathed.
    • 1761, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Second Part”, in A discourse upon the origin and foundation of the inequality among mankind, R. & J. Dodsley, page 120:
      nay other Nations [beyond the Native American ones] seem to have continued in a State of Barbarism, as long as they continued to exercise one only of these Arts [Metallurgy and Agriculture] without the other;
    • 1858, Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts, page 347:
      His house was so closely beset by the populace, day and night, that scarcely nay person ventured to visit him; and he was afraid that his chapel would be burned to the ground.

References

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  1. ^ Robert E. Lewis, Sherman M. Kuhn (1978) Middle English Dictionary‎[1], University of Michigan Press

Anagrams

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Abau

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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nay class I gender mf

  1. my younger sibling; used to address a sibling of the speaker who is younger than the speaker and of the same sex
    Seseyn, nay-ih hiykwe senkin lon, kow senkin lon ― Accordingly, the younger brother did as the older brother had instructed him to do.

Declension

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declension of nay (kinship)
form
term of address nay
term of reference nay-ih

References

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  • Lock, Arnold Hugo. 2011. Abau Grammar. Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages 57. Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea: SIL-PNG Academic Publications. Available online.
    • Table 12: Vowel harmony in the suffixation of kinship terms, p.29 (lists "nay" / "nay-ih")
    • Footnote 3, p.29 (clarifies gender usage for "nay-ih")
    • Table 21: Nouns observed in texts, marked for gender & numeral class, p.67 (lists "ney" [child] as Class 1, m/f)

Ainu

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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nay (Kana spelling ナィ)

  1. swamp.
  2. small river.

Trivia

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The ainu word -nay is frequently seen in names of places in Hokkaido and Northeast Japan, such as Wakkanai, Shizunai, etc.

Kankanaey

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈnaj/ [ˈnai̯]
  • Rhymes: -aj
  • Syllabification: nay

Determiner

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nay

  1. this

Adverb

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nay

  1. here

Interjection

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nay

  1. here, take it

References

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  • Morice Vanoverbergh (1933) “nay”, in A Dictionary of Lepanto Igorot or Kankanay. As it is spoken at Bauco (Linguistische Anthropos-Bibliothek; XII)‎[5], Mödling bei Wien, St. Gabriel, Österreich: Verlag der Internationalen Zeitschrift „Anthropos“, →OCLC, page 314
  • Allen, Larry (2021) “nay”, in Kankanaey – English Dictionary, Summer Institute of Linguistics

Tagalog

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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nay (Baybayin spelling ᜈᜌ᜔)

  1. clipping of nanay

Anagrams

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Tocharian B

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Noun

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nay

  1. politics, political affairs, governance

Vietnamese

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Etymology

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Cognate with này.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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nay • (尼, 𫢩, 𬁉, 𠉞)

  1. (of a day or time of day) that is today, or happening today
    sáng/trưa/chiều/tối/đêm nay ― this morning/forenoon/afternoon/evening/night
    bữa/hôm nay ― today
    Sáng nay ăn sáng chưa?
    Have you had breakfast this morning?

Noun

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nay • (尼, 𫢩, 𬁉, 𠉞)

  1. (usually literary) now, the present, as opposed to xưa (“long ago; the past”) and mai (“later in the future”)
    Nay không lo làm thì mai không có ăn đâu.
    If you don't work today, you won't be able to afford to eat tomorrow.
    Xưa cả làng sợ họ nhà nó lắm. Nay chẳng ai sợ cái cóc khô gì cả.
    The whole village used to fear their family. These days, though, nobody fears a damn thing.

Derived terms

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Adverb

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nay • (尼, 𫢩, 𬁉, 𠉞)

  1. clipping of hôm nay (“today”)
  2. clipping of bữa nay (“today”)

Derived terms

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