hey

Meanings

Interjection

• An exclamation to get attention.
• A protest or reprimand.
• An expression of surprise.
• An informal greeting, similar to hi.
• A request for repetition or explanation; an expression of confusion.
• A meaningless beat marker or extra, filler syllable in song lyrics.

Noun

• A choreographic figure in which three or more dancers weave between one another, passing by left and right shoulder alternately.
• Alternate spelling of he

Related

Similar words

• eh, huh

Origin

• From Middle English hey, hei, also without h- in ey, from Old English *hē, ēa, attested as first element in hēlā, ēalā. Cognate with Dutch hé, hei, German hei, Danish and Swedish hej, Faroese hey, Old Norse, Icelandic and Norwegian hei, Romanian hei, Russian эй; see heigh. Probably a natural expression, as may be inferred from its presence with similar meaning in many other unrelated languages: for example, Burmese ဟေး, Finnish hei, Unami hè, and Mandarin 哎, and various sound-alikes as Ancient Greek εἶα and Latin eia, eho, Sanskrit हे. See also hello.
• From French haie ("hedge"), with reference to the weaving patterns used in hedgelaying.
• See he.