hey
Plural: heys
Intj
- An exclamation to get attention.
- A protest or reprimand.
- An expression of surprise.
- An informal greeting, similar to hi.
- A request for repetition or explanation; an expression of confusion.
- Used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said.
- A meaningless beat marker or extra, filler syllable in song lyrics.
Noun
- A choreographic figure in which three or more dancers weave between one another, passing by left and right shoulder alternately.
- Alternative spelling of he (“Hebrew letter”).
Interjection
- Used to attract attention or express surprise or greeting.
Examples
- He shouted ’HEY!’ when his opponent tried to play a non-existent word in Scrabble.
- Hey! How's it going?
- Hey! Listen!
- Hey! Stop that!
- Hey! This is new!
- Hey, look at this!
- Hey? How's that?
- The chorus is "nana na na, nana na na hey hey hey, goodbye".
Origin / 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.
Synonyms
ahem, ahoy, blimey, cooee, eh, gee whiz, hello, hey, heyo, hi, hoi, hoo man, howdy, huh, oi, oi oi, wotcher, wow, yo, yoohoo, yowzah
Scrabble Score: 9
hey: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordhey: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
hey: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary