nay
/neɪ/noun
nay is spelled N-A-Y: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting NAY, the name). People search “nay vs neigh” about 30 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, nay means “A vote against” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of nay is nays.
How many letters and syllables are in nay?
| Letters | 3: N-A-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.7 times per million words; the 16,455th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Same letters |
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); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is nay?
Nay appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes NAY, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce nay?
- /neɪ/
Nay 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-nay.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with nay
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: Neagh, nee (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with nay?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as nay.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: any, yan, ayn, nya.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of nay
- nays plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- naying participle, present
- nayed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does nay mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A vote against.
I vote nay, even though the motion is popular, because I would rather be right than popular.
- 2
A person who voted against.
The vote is 4 in favor and 20 opposed; the nays have it.
- 3
archaicA denial; a refusal.
adverb
- 1
archaicNo.
- 2
archaicIntroducing a statement, without direct negation.
- 3
archaicOr rather, or should I say; moreover (introducing a stronger and more appropriate expression than the preceding one).
His face was dirty, nay, filthy.
interjection
- 1
archaicNo.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo refuse.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteNary; not any
'Tis easy to do this experiment, though nay substance will do: we shall need a special one.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Nay in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense or rather:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ou plutôt, voire, que dis-je |
| German | ja |
| Portuguese | ou mesmo |
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 nay come from?
From Middle English nai, nei, from Old Norse nei (“no”), contraction of ne (“not”) + ei (“ever”), itself from Proto-Germanic *nai (“never”), *nē (“not”). More at no. The verb is from Middle English nayen (“to refuse, deny, gainsay”), from the interjection and adverb above.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).