dey

• (UK) IPA^(key): /deɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophone: day

From Middle English deye, deie, daie, from Old English dǣġe (“maker of bread; baker; dairy-maid”), from Proto-West Germanic *daigijā, from Proto-Germanic *daigijǭ (“kneader of bread, maid”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to knead, form, build”). Cognate with Swedish deja, Icelandic deigja (“dairy-maid”); compare dairy, dough, lady.

• daie, deie, deye

dey (plural deys)

1. (UK dialectal, Scotland) A servant who has charge of the dairy; a dairymaid.

• dairy
• lady

From French dey, from Algerian Arabic داي from Ottoman Turkish دایی (modern Turkish dayı).

dey (plural deys)

1. (historical) The ruler of the Regency of Algiers (now Algeria) under the Ottoman Empire.
   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 29:

     […] the reigning Dey of Algiers (half of whose twenty-eight predecessors are said to have met violent ends) lost his temper with the French consul, struck him in the face with a fly-whisk, and called him ‘a wicked, faithless, idol-worshipping rascal’.

dey

1. Pronunciation spelling of their, representing African-American Vernacular English.
2. Pronunciation spelling of there, representing African American Vernacular English or Caribbean English.
   • 2012, G. Modele Dale Clarke, Up in Mahaica: Stories from the Market People (ebook), Xlibris:

     “Boy, is horrors over dey, for so,” he said, obviously excited and anxious to be the bearer of extraordinary news. “Wat happen, somebody dead?”

3. Pronunciation spelling of they, representing dialects with th-stopping in English

From Tamil டேய் (“hey!”).

• deh, dei

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): [ˈde(ː)]

dey

1. (Singlish, Manglish) An informal Tamil-language term of address used when trying to get someone's attention.
   • 2007, Elangovan, P, Singapore, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 46:

     Dey! Did you press the lift button? What? You have pressed the button for the tenth time?

   • 2012 February 7 [2007], Laremy Lee, Radio Silence, →ISBN:

     Dei, you think what, President’s Star Charity ah?

   • 2007 September 10, Sandra Leong, The Straits Times, quoted in Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited, →OCLC, page 6:

     If a player makes a silly mistake, he doesn’t wail when told to “wake up lah, dey”.

Only commonly used by the younger generation and Tamil speakers.

• “dey”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “dey”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• Dye, d'ye, dye, ye'd, yed

• IPA^(key): /de/

From English there.

dey

1. there is, there are, indicates presence in a location

• deiy

• na (copula for noun phrases, indicating existence)

From English they.

dey

1. they, 3rd person plural subject personal pronoun

From English day.

dey

1. day

• dei

Borrowed from Algerian Arabic داي, from Ottoman Turkish دایی (modern Turkish dayı).

• IPA^(key): /dɛj/

• Audio:

  (file)

dey m (plural deys)

1. dey (ruler of the Regency of Algiers)

• “dey”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

From English they.

• IPA^(key): /deiː/, /dɛ/

dey

1. (third-person plural) their

dey (object-oblique case: dem, possessive adjective: , possessive pronoun: dey-own, reflexive pronoun: dey-sef)

1. (third-person plural subject) they

• Virginia Mixson Geraty, Gulluh fuh oonuh: Gullah for You (1997)
• Lorenzo Dow Turner, Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect (1969)
•  Seminole Indian Scouts Cemetery Association. Afro-Seminole Creole Wikitongues Language Class 
•  David B. Frank. Gullah Grammar Sketch

• IPA^(key): /teiː/
• Rhymes: -eiː

dey

1. inflection of deyja:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish دایی (dayı), from Persian دایی (dâyi, “maternal uncle”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛj/^[1][2]
• Rhymes: -ɛj

dey m (invariable)

1. dey (ruler of the Regency of Algiers)

From Persian ده (deh).

dey

1. village

   Synonym: grom

dey

1. alternative form of day

dey

1. alternative form of þei (“they”)

dey

1. alternative form of dee

• deh

From Igbo dị.

dey

1. to be
   • (Can we date this quote?), Zanele Buthelezi, Thembani Dladla, Clare Verbeek, “Count animals”, in Storybooks African Languages‎^[1]:

     One elephant dey go drink water.

     One elephant is going to drink water.

   • 2025 April 24, Sammi Awami, “Wetin to know as Tanzania ban South Africa and Malawi imports inside quarrel wey enter anoda level”, in BBC News Pidgin‎^[2]:

     Di border crossing between Tanzania and Malawi wey dey normally dey full off life dey quiet dan usual on Thursday as a result of one regional trade row wey don enter anoda level.

     The border crossing between Tanzania and Malawi that is normally full of life is quieter than usual on Thursday as a result of one regional trade row that has escalated.

dey

1. inflection of deyja:
   1. first-person singular present active indicative
   2. second-person singular present active imperative

dey

1. alternative spelling of dei

dey

1. alternative form of die (“day”)
   • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 84:

     Ch'am a stouk, an a donel; wou'll leigh out ee dey.

     I am a fool and a dunce; we'll idle out the day.

   • 1867, “DR. RUSSELL ON THE INHABITANTS AND DIALECT OF THE BARONY OF FORTH”, in APPENDIX, page 131:

     Fad didn'st thou cum t' ouz on zum other dey?

     [Why didn't you come to us on some other day?]

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867

• IPA^(key): /dey/

dey

1. foot, leg
2. footstep

• Beria-English English-Beria Dictionary [provisional] ADESK, Iriba, Kobe Department, Chad