whey

• whig (dialectal)
• whay (obsolete)

From Middle English whey, wheye, whei, from Old English hwǣġ, hwæiġ, hwæġ, hweġ (“whey”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwaij (“whey”) (compare Saterland Frisian Waai, Woaie, West Frisian waai, Dutch wei, Low German Wei, German Low German Wei), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- (“to pile up, build”) (compare Old Church Slavonic чинъ (činŭ, “order”), Ancient Greek ποιέω (poiéō, “to pile up, make”), Sanskrit कय (káya, “every one”)).

• enPR: hwā, wā, IPA^(key): /hweɪ/, /weɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophones: way, weigh, wey (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

whey (usually uncountable, plural wheys)

1. The liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained in the process of making cheese.
   • 1805, Songs for the Nursery, page 23:

     Little Miss Muffet, She sat on a tuffet, Eating of curds and whey; There came a little spider, Who sat down beside her, And frighted Miss Muffet away.

   • 1847, Emily Brontë, chapter XX, in Wuthering Heights‎:

     {...} if I wished any blessing in the world, it was to find him a worthy object of pride; and I’m bitterly disappointed with the whey-faced, whining wretch!

• curds

• wheyy, whei, wheye, wheyȝe, wey, whay, qwhey, weyȝe, whaye, wege

From Old English hwǣġ, hwæiġ, hwæġ, hweġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaij (“whey”).

• IPA^(key): /hwæi̯/
• (dialectal) IPA^(key): /wæi̯/, /xwæi̯/

whey (uncountable)

1. The leftovers from milk curdled during cheesemaking; whey.
2. (rare) The result of strained almond milk.

• English: whey (whig)
• Scots: quhaye, quhay, quhey, whey, fey

• “whei, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-09-01.