Hey Definition

interjection
Used to attract attention, to express surprise, delight, puzzlement, etc., or to preface a remark.
Webster's New World
Hello.
Webster's New World
Used to express greeting.
American Heritage
Hey, look at this!
Wiktionary
Hey! Stop that!
Wiktionary
Synonyms:
noun

(country dancing) A choreographic figure in which the dancers weave between one another.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Hey

Noun

Singular:
hey
Plural:
heys

Origin of Hey

  • From Middle English hey, hei, also without h- in ey, from Old English *hē, ēa (interjection), attested as first element in Old English hēlā, ēalā (“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”). Cognate with Dutch he, hei (“hi, hey”), German hei (“hey, wow”), Danish and Swedish hej (“hello, hey”), Faroese hey (“hey, hello”), Icelandic hei (“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 (hei), Finnish hei, Unami , and Mandarin Chinese (āi), and various sound-alikes as Roman eho, Greek εἴα (eia), Latin eia, Sanskrit हे (he). See also hello.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English hei

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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