cay

[kaj˧˧]

/[kaj˧˧]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“cay” is uncommon German (frequency #96,793 among 1,273 “C” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#96,793
frequency rank, German
1,273
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - scharf

Corpus desk

Index DE-cay · cay · German

cay · rank #96,793 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #96,793
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,273
  • PHOTO-FINISH Catsuit

Nearest frequency peer: Catsuit (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „cay“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „cay“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for cay
PropertyValue
Headwordcay
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[kaj˧˧]
Letters3
Frequency rank#96,793
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „cay“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).cayfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Catsuit“ (#96,792), „carvalho“ (#96,791), „Chans“ (#96,795). Unter 1,273 „C“-Lemmata liegt „cay“ bei #96,793. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

cay is uncommon German at frequency #96,793 among 1,273 “C” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [kaj˧˧]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "scharf".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for cay, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No documented word history exists for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is cay, spelled C-A-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    scharf

This word in other languages

spicy(English)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cay"?
"cay" is spelled C-A-Y. The IPA pronunciation is [kaj˧˧].
What does "cay" mean?
As an adjective, "cay" means: scharf
How do you pronounce "cay"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cay" is [kaj˧˧]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cay" come from?
"cay" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "cay", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

duu#96,875epe#96,922foc#96,993été#96,586

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list