wey

From Middle English weie, waie, weihe, wæȝe, from Old English wǣġ (“a weight; a tool for weighing, balance, scale”), from Proto-West Germanic *wāgu, from Proto-Germanic *wēgō (“scales; weight”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to move, bring, transport”). Cognate with German Waage (“weight”), Icelandic vág (“a weight”).

• enPR: wā, IPA^(key): /weɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophones: way, weigh; whey (wine–whine merger)

wey (plural weys)

1. (uncommon, archaic) An old English measure of weight containing 224 pounds; equivalent to 2 hundredweight.
   • c. 1376, William Langland, The Vision of Piers Plowman, Version B, Passus 5, Line 91:

     Than though I hadde this wouke ywonne a weye of Essex cheese.

   • 1843, The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge‎^[1], volume 27, page 202:

     Seven pounds make a clove, 2 cloves a stone, 2 stone a tod, 6½ tods a wey, 2 weys a sack, 12 sacks a last. […] It is to be observed here that a sack is 13 tods, and a tod 28 pounds, so that the sack is 364 pounds.

   • 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 208:

     Cheese and salt are purchased by the wey of two hundredweight, or by the stone of fourteen pounds.

   • 1858, Peter Lund Simmonds, The Dictionary of Trade Products, Manufacturing, and Technical Terms‎^[2], page 410:

     WEY, WEIGH, an English measure of weight; for wool, equal to 6½ tods of 28 lbs.; a load or five quarters of wheat; 40 bushels of salt, each 56 lbs.; 32 cloves of cheese, each 7 lbs.; 48 bushels of oats and barley; 2 to 3 cwt. of butter.

• Wye, wye, yew

From Proto-Mayan *way-

• IPA^(key): /bej/

wey

1. (intransitive) to sleep

Preliminary Classic Maya ‐ English, English ‐ Classic Maya Vocabulary of Hieroglyphic Readings by Erik Boot 
2022. Akateko Living Dictionary. Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. ( to sleep "wey" wav recording )

From Old English weġ, from Proto-West Germanic *weg, from Proto-Germanic *wegaz.

• wei, weie, wai, way

• IPA^(key): /wæi̯/

wey (plural weys)

1. way

• English: way
• Scots: wey, way
• Yola: wye, waie

• “wei, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

wey

1. alternative form of whey

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

wey

1. that
   • 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^[3]:

     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.

wey

1. who

wey (plural wejwey or wejweymet)

1. big

• Campbell, L. (1985). The Pipil Language of El Salvador. Mouton De Gruyter.
• Lara-Martínez, R., McCallister, R. Glosario cultural náwat pipil y nicarao.

Variant of güey, representing the relaxed pronunciation of the /ɡw/ sounds.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwei/ [ˈwei̯]
• Rhymes: -ei
• Syllabification: wey

wey m (plural weyes)

1. (Mexico, colloquial slang, eye dialect, Internet) chump, punk, dumbass, idiot, jerk
2. (Mexico, colloquial, Internet, also Latin America) dude, guy, buddy

   Synonyms: carnal, cuate, tonto, bato

• Due to the popularization of memes using Mexican slang all over Latin America through social networks, the word is heavily used on the internet by non-Mexicans and sometimes employed in spoken language.

From Dutch weide.

wey

1. pasture