hwy

• hwy.

hwy (plural hwys)

1. Abbreviation of highway.

• ewy (“expressway”)
• fwy (“freeway”)

• why

• hwī, hwiġ

From a presumed earlier *hwīe, from Proto-West Germanic *hwiu, from Proto-Germanic *hwī (“with what”), to which the more common instrumental ending *-ō had been added. Cognate with Old High German hwiu (instrumental case of hwaz).

• IPA^(key): /xwyː/, [ʍyː]

hwȳ

1. why

hwȳ

1. instrumental of hwā
2. instrumental of hwæt

• Middle English: why
  • English: why
  • Scots: why

• hū
• hwǣr
• hwanon
• hwæder
• hwonne

From Proto-Northern Jê *py (“achiote”) < Proto-Cerrado *pyj’ (“achiote”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈhʷɨ]

hwy

1. achiote

From Proto-Northern Jê *py (“achiote”) < Proto-Cerrado *pyj’ (“achiote”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈhʷɨ]

hwy

1. achiote

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /huːɨ̯/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /hʊi̯/
• Rhymes: -ʊɨ̯

From Middle Welsh wy, from Proto-Celtic *eyes, plural of *es, from Proto-Indo-European *éy. Cognate with Breton i(nt) and Irish ia(d).

The initial h- is from the final -nt of verbs having the allophone -nnh- between vowels (e.g. gwelant wy “they see” > /gwelannhwy/ > gwelan(t) hwy); the colloquial form nhw formed by the same process.

hwy

1. (literary) they; them.

Hwy is exclusively Literary Welsh. Colloquial Welsh uses nhw instead.

• hwynt

Proto-Celtic *sēyos, comparative of *sīros (for the same alteration compare *māros, comp. *māyos > Welsh mawr, comp. mwy).

hwy

1. comparative degree of hir: longer

   Synonym: hirach

hwy

1. h-prothesized form of wy

R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “hwy”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies