aye

From Middle English ay, ai, aȝȝ, from Old Norse ei, ey, from Proto-Germanic *aiwa, *aiwō (“ever, always”) (compare Old English āwo, āwa, ā, ō, Middle Dutch ie, German je), from *aiwaz (“age; law”) (compare Old English ǣ(w) (“law”), West Frisian ieu (“century”), Dutch eeuw (“century”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“long time”) (compare Irish aois (“age, period”), Breton oad (“age, period”), Latin ævum (“eternity”), Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn)). Doublet of aeviternity and aevum.

• IPA^(key): /eɪ/
  • Rhymes: -eɪ
• (sometimes proscribed)[1] IPA^(key): /aɪ/
  • Rhymes: -aɪ
  • Homophones: ay, eye, I

aye (not comparable)

1. (archaic) ever, always
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     […] Do that good miſcheefe, which may make this Iſland / Thine owne for euer, and I thy Caliban, / For aye thy foot-licker.

   • 1834, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

     The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, / And southward aye we fled.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XIII, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     Huge hills and mountains of casks on casks were piled upon her wharves, and side by side the world-wandering whale ships lay silent and safely moored at last; while from others came a sound of carpenters and coopers, with blended noises of fires and forges to melt the pitch, all betokening that new cruises were on the start; that one most perilous and long voyage ended, only begins a second; and a second ended, only begins a third, and so on, for ever and for aye.

   • 1863, Translation by Catherine Winkworth:

     Let the Amen sound from His people again; Gladly for aye we adore Him. (Praise to the Lord, the Almighty)

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:aye.

"Appears suddenly about 1575, and is exceedingly common about 1600."[1] Probably from use of aye (“ever, always”) as expression of agreement or affirmation, or from Middle English a ye (“oh yes”), or synthesis of both. More at oh, yea.

• ay

• IPA^(key): /aɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: ay, eye, I

aye

1. yes; yea; a word expressing assent, or an affirmative answer to a question.
2. (nautical) a word used to acknowledge a command from a superior, usually preceded by a verbatim repeat-back.

• It is much used in Scotland, the north and Midlands of England, Northern Ireland, and North Wales, as well as in New Zealand (where it may follow rather than precede a statement). Also notably seen in viva voce voting in legislative bodies, etc., or in nautical contexts.

• yes
• yea

• nay
• no

• Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, →ISBN
• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin,
• A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, →ISBN

aye (plural ayes)

1. An affirmative vote; one who votes in the affirmative.

   "To call for the ayes and nays;" "The ayes have it."

• yes

Probably of multiple motivations, the sounds having been chosen for functional reasons.

• IPA^(key): /aɪ/, /eɪ/
  • (New Zealand) IPA^(key): [æe̯]

aye

1. (MLE, MTE, regional African-American Vernacular) an attention grabber

   Synonyms: hey, oi, I say

   Aye, come here!

   Aye, what do you have?

2. (New Zealand) Alternative spelling of ay (question tag)

• yae, yea

From Malay air (“water”).[1]

• IPA^(key): /basi/

aye

1. water

From Betawi aye. Doublet of saya.

aye

1. (Jakarta, slang) First-person singular pronoun: I, me, my

Other pronouns with the same meaning used in Jakarta:

• gue, ogut

Other pronouns with the same meaning used elsewhere:

• aku (informal)
• ku
• daku (poetic)
• saya (formal)
• gua, gw (Java)
• hamba

aye (plural ayer or ayren)

1. Alternative form of ey (“egg”)

From Old Norse ei, ey, cognate with Old English ā. See the etymology for the English word above.

• IPA^(key): /aɪ/

aye (not comparable)

1. always, still

   A'll aye be wi ye an A'm nae carin whit thay sae.

   I'll always be with you and I don't care what they say.

   It'll aye be the same wi thaim thou.

   It'll still be the same with them though.

aye

1. yes; yea; a word expressing assent, or an affirmative answer to a question

aye m (plural ayes)

1. whine; whining; whinging

From Middle English ay, from Old Norse ey.

• IPA^(key): /iː/

aye

1. ever
   • 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 116, lines 14-15:

     till ee zin o'oure daies be var aye be ee-go t'glade.

     until the sun of our lives (be for ever) be gone down the dark valley (of death).

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 116

• ايعِ
• aiyé (archaic)

Cognate with Edo aye

• IPA^(key): /ā.jé/

ayé

1. world
2. life

• IPA^(key): /à.jè/

àyè

1. chance, opportunity

• ráyè (“to get the opportunity”)

• aè, àè

• IPA^(key): /ā.jè/, /à.jè/

àyè

1. (Ekiti) lies, falsehood

   Synonyms: irọ́, ụrọ́, èké

• ṣàyè (“to lie”)
• Ifáàláyè
• Fáláè
• Aóòláyè
• Ọbànị̀fọ̀nṣaè