Gay

From Fresh Dictionary

This page has been listed on the requests for verification list. (Add entry to list.)
It has been suggested that this entry does not meet Wiktionary's criteria for inclusion. If evidence is not provided within a month, the disputed information will be removed. 		Image:Keeptidy ask.png
See also Gay{{#if:|{{#if:|,|, and}} [[{{{2}}}]]{{#if:|{{#if:|,|, and}} [[{{{3}}}]]{{#if:|{{#if:|,|, and}} [[{{{4}}}]]{{#if:|{{#if:|,|, and}} [[{{{5}}}]]{{#if:|{{#if:|,|, and}} [[{{{6}}}]]{{#if:|{{#if:|,|, and}} [[{{{7}}}]]{{#if:|{{#if:|,|, and}} [[{{{8}}}]]{{#if:|, and [[{{{9}}}]]}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Contents

[edit]

English

[edit]

Etymology

Possibly from Latin gaudium, "joy". The word is known to have been adopted through the French gai in 12th century. Other Romance languages had a sense of "slack", "not closely fitting", but its etymological importance is not understood. It is unclear where the word originally came from. Some, such as Friedrich Christian Diez, suggested that it comes from Middle High German. The sense of "homosexual" is said to have come from an Arabic word via French; it is also said to come from the word's older sense of "dissolute".

[edit]

Pronunciation

IPA: /ɡeɪ/
AHD: /gā/
SAMPA: /geI/

[edit]

Adjective

Positive
gay

Comparative
gayer

Superlative
gayest

  1. happy, joyful, and lively
    It's a wonderfully gay morning.
  2. festive, bright, colourful
    Don we now our gay apparel
    Pennsylvania Dutch include the plain folk and the gay folk.
  3. homosexual
  4. typical of homosexual appearance or behavior (often in a stereotypical sense)
    That tight leather clothing looks a bit gay.
  5. feminine or non-masculine behavior associated with females
  6. (Verification for this usage is being sought)::(pejorative - slang) boring, unappealing, bad, of low quality, annoying, unfair
[edit]

Usage notes

  • Gay is almost exclusively used today in its homosexual and related senses. The earlier uses of festive, colorful or bright can still be found but have fallen out of fashion and are liable to misunderstanding, unless used in a way that suggests that a fashion is common among homosexuals.
  • Gay is preferred to homosexual by many gay people as their own term for themselves, claiming that homosexual is dated and evoking a time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness by the mental health community.
  • Gay in referring to things viewed as homosexual is largely replacing the more pejorative sense of fag.
[edit]

Translations

happy, joyful and lively

festive, bright, colorful/colourful

homosexual

typical of homosexual appearance or behavior/behaviour

slang: boring, unappealing, bad or of low quality.

[edit]
Translations to be checked

The translations below need to be checked by native speakers and inserted into the appropriate tables above. The numbering is unreliable.

[edit]

Noun

Singular
gay

Plural
gays

  1. a homosexual, most often a male homosexual but sometimes applied to female homosexuals, who are also called lesbians.
[edit]

Usage notes

  • Many gay people prefer not to be referred to by this term, feeling that being known as "gays" depersonalises them and reduces them to little more than their sexual orientation. The terms they prefer use gay as an adjective only (as in "gay men").


[edit]

Translations

[edit]

Dictionary notes

  • MSN Encarta Dictionary lists 5 adjective senses, marking "merry", "bright", "carefree", and "debauched" as dated, leaving only "homosexual" unmarked.fr:gay

ko:gay io:gay hu:gay pt:gay sr:gay fi:gay zh:gay

Retrieved from "http://www.freshdictionary.com/index.php/Gay"
Personal tools