shay
/ʃeɪ/obsolete
shay is spelled S-H-A-Y: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,463rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, shay means “A geared steam locomotive, patented by Ephraim Shay” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of shay is shays.
How many letters and syllables are in shay?
| Letters | 4: S-H-A-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 24,463rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| 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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is shay?
Shay appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 24,463rd 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 shay?
- UK /ʃeɪ/
Shay 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-shay.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with shay
Sounds like: chez (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with shay?
11 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as shay from its last stressed vowel (/eɪ/, British pronunciation):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: ashy.
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).
What does shay mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
archaicA chaise.
noun
- 1
A geared steam locomotive, patented by Ephraim Shay.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does shay come from?
A back-formation from chaise (originally from French), with the /z/ of that word taken as the plural ending -s.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).