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PlainSpell

gay

/ɡeɪ/adjective, noun, verb, adverb

gay is spelled G-A-Y: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 79 times per million words in written English, the 1,338th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, gay means “Only possessing sexual and/or romantic attraction towards people one perceives to be the same sex or gender as oneself” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in gay?

Letters3: G-A-Y
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing79 times per million words; the 1,338th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is gay?

Gay appears 79 times per million words in written English, the 1,338th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce gay?

  • /ɡeɪ/

Gay has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-gay.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of gay

  • gayer comparative
  • gayest superlative
  • gays plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • gaying participle, present
  • gayed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does gay mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Only possessing sexual and/or romantic attraction towards people one perceives to be the same sex or gender as oneself.

    Cliff is gay, but his twin brother is straight.

  2. 2

    Of a man, only romantically and/or sexually attracted to other men.

    gay and lesbian people

  3. 3

    Tending to partner or mate with other individuals of the same sex.

  4. 4

    Between two or more persons perceived to be of the same sex or gender as each other.

    Although the number of gay weddings has increased significantly, many gay and lesbian couples – like many straight couples – are not interested in getting married.

  5. 5

    colloquialNot heterosexual, or not cisgender: homosexual, bisexual, asexual, transgender, etc.

  6. 6

    Intended for gay people, especially gay men.

    She professes an undying love for gay bars and gay movies, and even admits to having watched gay porn.

  7. 7

    slangHomosexually in love with someone.

  8. 8

    slangInfatuated with something, aligning with homosexual stereotypes.

noun

  1. 1

    A homosexual, especially a male homosexual.

  2. 2

    derogatoryinformalGayness: the quality of being gay.

    Anti-gay persecution holds that you can pray the gay out of a person, or scare it out of them, or cajole it out of them.

  3. 3

    obsoleteSomething which is bright or colorful, such as a picture or a flower.

    There's a good child; look at the gays, and keep quiet.

  4. 4

    obsoleteAn ornament, a knick-knack.

    If however the stranger be suspected of “sailing under false colours," when they are all in familiar chat about nothing in particular, “Cousin Jacky” will take occasion to say to the new chum, “My dear; ded 'e ever see a duck clunk a gay?"

  5. 5

    The letter –, which stands for the sound /ɡ/, in Pitman shorthand.

verb

  1. 1

    datedTo make happy or cheerful.

  2. 2

    To cause (something, e.g. AIDS) to be associated with homosexual people.

adverb

  1. 1

    ScotlandConsiderably, very.

    She'll mak naw moor mischeef neets–she's gay quiet now!

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Gay in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgai, gaie (happy, joyful and lively), gay, homo (homosexual – see also homosexual, lesbian)
Germanfröhlich, lustig, ausgelassen (happy, joyful and lively), homosexuell (homosexual – see also homosexual, lesbian), bunt, farbenfroh (festive, bright, colorful)
Portuguesealegre, feliz, contente (happy, joyful and lively), gay (homosexual – see also homosexual, lesbian), festivo, vívido (festive, bright, colorful)
Spanishfeliz, alegre (happy, joyful and lively), festivo, vívido, colorido (festive, bright, colorful), gay (homosexual person, especially male – see also…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does gay come from?

From Middle English gay, from Old French gai (“joyful, laughing, merry”), usually thought to be a borrowing of Old Occitan gai (“impetuous, lively”), from Gothic *𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*gaheis, “impetuous”), merging with earlier Old French jai ("merry"; see jay), from Frankish *gāhi; both from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden”). This is possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- (“to stride, step”), from *ǵʰeh₁- (“to leave”), but Kroonen rejects this derivation and treats the Germanic word as having no known etymology.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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