Wiktionary

whey

English

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English whey, wheye, whei, from Old English hwǣġ, hwæiġ, hwæġ, hweġ (“whey”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwaij (“whey”) (compare Saterland Frisian Waai, Woaie, West Frisian waai, Dutch wei, Low German Wei, German Low German Wei), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- (“to pile up, build”) (compare Old Church Slavonic чинъ (činŭ, “order”), Ancient Greek ποιέω (poiéō, “to pile up, make”), Sanskrit कय (káya, “every one”)).

Noun

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whey (usually uncountable, plural wheys)

  1. The liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained in the process of making cheese.
    • 1805, Songs for the Nursery, page 23:
      Little Miss Muffet, She sat on a tuffet, Eating of curds and whey; There came a little spider, Who sat down beside her, And frighted Miss Muffet away.
    • 1847, Emily Brontë, chapter XX, in Wuthering Heights‎[1]:
      {...} if I wished any blessing in the world, it was to find him a worthy object of pride; and I’m bitterly disappointed with the whey-faced, whining wretch!
Coordinate terms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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See also

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Etymology 2

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Onomatopoeic, variation on wahey.

Interjection

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whey

  1. (UK, dated) A shout for attention
    • 1928, Ruth Manning-Sanders, Waste Corner:
      He swayed over to the door, peered out, shouted "whey!" and came back, looking severe.
    • 1982, Frank Entwisle, Abroad in England:
      somebody who was more or less to their senses, shouted... ' Whey! ... Had on lads!' and everybody was trying to get wocken up and sorted out.
  2. (UK) A shout of enthusiasm or delight
    • 2011 September 1, Case File 12: The Case of the Messy Mucked Up Masterpiece, Hachette UK, →ISBN:
      ... apart from Max, who rode his pallet like a surfboard with a huge grin plastered across his face. “Wheyyyyyyy!” Max yelled with delight.
    • 2016 December 30, Hahn Moo-Sook, The House of Pomegranate Trees, Literature Translation Institute of Korea, →ISBN:
      Several drunken men shouted from the corner. “Wheyyyy, showtime! Go on, go on!”
  3. (UK) Shouted when someone drops a glass or other crockery, especially in a pub.
    • 2014 February 18, Catriona Harvey-Jenner, “25 things only bar staff will understand”, in Cosmopolitan UK‎[2]:
      12. Smashing a glass and the whole bar choruses "WHEYYYY".
    • 2020 February 10, Claire Galloway, “15 things only people who have worked in an Edinburgh pub will understand”, in Edinburgh Live‎[3]:
      If they don't shout "wheyyy" when you smash a glass, did it even smash?
    • 2024 May 9, Oisín McKenna, Evenings and Weekends, HarperCollins UK, →ISBN:
      the sloshed post-work boozers all shout "Wheyyyyyyy!' at a glass that's smashed on the floor

Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old English hwǣġ, hwæiġ, hwæġ, hweġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaij (“whey”).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /hwæi̯/
  • (dialectal) IPA(key): /wæi̯/, /xwæi̯/

Noun

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whey (uncountable)

  1. The leftovers from milk curdled during cheesemaking; whey.
  2. (rare) The result of strained almond milk.

Descendants

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  • English: whey (whig)
  • Scots: quhaye, quhay, quhey, whey, fey

References

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