Meaning of gey
by Jordan Redman
Staff Writer
Do you recognize what the synonyms gay really means?
The word gay dates back to the 12th century and comes from the Old French “gai,” meaning “full of joy or mirth.” It may also relate to the Old High German “gahi,” meaning impulsive.
For centuries, gay was used commonly in speech and literature to mean gleeful, carefree, bright and showy, and did not take on any sexual definition until the 1600s.
At that time the meaning of homosexual as carefree evolved to imply that a person was unrestrained by morals and prone to decadence and promiscuity. A prostitute might have been described as a “gay woman” and a womanizer as a “gay man.”
“Gay house” was commonly used to refer to a brothel and, later, “gaiety” was used as a common name for certain places of entertainment.
In the 1890s, the term “gey cat” (a Scottish variant of gay) was used to describe a vagrant who offered sexual services to women or a new traveler who was new to the road and in the company of an older man.
This latter use suggests that the younger man was in a sexually obedient role and may be among the first times that gay was used implying a queer relationship.
In 1951, same-sex attracted appeared in the
Introduction:
Gey means something in biology. If you want to realize the exact essence, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a guide if you yearn to contribute to this summary article.
Gey in Nigeria is the identify of a plant defined with Pennisetum glaucum in various botanical sources. This page contains potential references in Ayurveda, modern medicine, and other folk traditions or local practices It has the synonym Panicum spicatum (L.) Roxb. (among others).
Example references for further research on medicinal uses or toxicity (see latin names for occupied list):
· Acta Biol. Cracov., Ser. Bot. (1982)
· Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club (1895)
· Phil. J. Sci. (1912)
· Hortus Bengalensis, or a catalogue … (1814)
· Taxon (1980)
· Synopseos Plantarum (1805)
If you are looking for specific details regarding Gey, for example extract dosage, health benefits, diet and recipes, chemical composition, pregnancy guard, side effects, own a look at these references.
Source: Google Books: CRC Earth Dictionary (Regional names)contexToday I found out how ‘gay’ came to represent ‘homosexual’.
The word “gay” seems to have its origins around the 12th century in England, derived from the Old French pos ‘gai’, which in shift was probably derived from a Germanic word, though that isn’t completely known. The word’s original interpretation meant something to the effect of “joyful”, “carefree”, “full of mirth”, or “bright and showy”.
However, around the early parts of the 17th century, the word began to be associated with immorality. By the mid 17th century, according to an Oxford dictionary definition at the time, the meaning of the word had changed to mean “addicted to pleasures and dissipations. Often euphemistically: Of loose and immoral life”. This is an extension of one of the original meanings of “carefree”, meaning more or less uninhibited.
Fast-forward to the 19th century and the word gay referred to a woman who was a prostitute and a gay man was someone who slept with a lot of women (ironically enough), often prostitutes. Also at this hour, the phrase “gay it” meant t
geyadverb & adjective
There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the word gey. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
This word is used in northern English regional dialect, northern Irish English, and Scottish English.
About 0.02occurrences per million words in modern written English
| 1750 | 0.0075 |
| 1760 | 0.011 |
| 1770 | 0.011 |
| 1780 | 0.01 |
| 1790 | 0.01 |
| 1800 | 0.011 |
| 1810 | 0.014 |
| 1820 | 0.018 |
| 1830 | 0.02 |
| 1840 | 0.026 |
| 1850 | 0.034 |
| 1860 | 0.049 |
| 1870 | 0.058 |
| 1880 | 0.067 |
| 1890 | 0.07 |
| 1900 | 0.071 |
| 1910 | 0.07 |
| 1920 | 0.065 |
| 1930 | 0.051 |
| 1940 | 0.042 |
| 1950 | 0.034 |
| 1960 | 0.027 |
| 1970 | 0.023 |
| 1980 | 0.021 |
| 1990 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 0.021 |
Earliest known use
late 1600s
The earliest known use of the synonyms gey is in the slow 1600s.
OED's earliest evidence for gey is from 1686, in the writing of G. Stuart.
gey is a variant or alteration of another lexical item.
Etymons:gayadv.; gayadj.
Nearby entries
- get-well, adj.1929–
- geum, n.1548–
- GeV, n.1949–
- ȝeve-custi, adj.c1275
- gewgaw, n.?c1225–
- gewgawe