quay

See also: quây, quấy, quầy, quẩy, quậy, and Quay

English

WOTD – 24 June 2008

the straightened Scheldt quay at Antwerp

Etymology 1

The current spelling replaced the spelling key in the 1690s to emulate the spelling but (at least originally) not the pronunciation of the equivalent modern French quai. From Middle English kay, key, kaye, keye, from Old French kay, cail, from Gaulish *kagyum, cagiíun (“enclosure”), from Proto-Celtic *kagyom (“pen, enclosure”) (compare Welsh cae (“field”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰyóm (“enclosure”). Doublet of hedge and hey (“choreographic figure”).

Alternative forms

• cay (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: kē, (UK) IPA^(key): /kiː/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /keɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kiː/, /keɪ/, /kweɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː, -eɪ
• Homophone: key

Noun

quay (plural quays)

1. (nautical) A stone or concrete structure on navigable water used for loading and unloading vessels; a wharf.

   moor up in the quay

   • 1879, F. D. Morice, Pindar, chapter 10, pp. 166-167:

     […] its harbour was filled with stately ships; and its quays, swarming with foreign traders and loaded with bales of costly merchandise […]

Derived terms

• Connah's Quay
• New Quay, Newquay
• quayside
• Willington Quay

Descendants

• → Scottish Gaelic: cidhe
• → Bulgarian: кей (kej)
• → Macedonian: кеј (kej)
• → Serbo-Croatian: кеј
• → Serbo-Croatian: kej

Translations

structure for loading and unloading vessels

• Arabic: رَصِيف الْمِينَاء m (raṣīf al-mīnāʔ)
• Basque: kaia
• Belarusian: на́бярэжная f (nábjarežnaja)
• Bulgarian: кей (bg) m (kej), приста́нище (bg) n (pristánište)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 碼頭／码头 (zh), 埠頭／埠头 (zh), 船埠 (zh) (chuánbù)

• Cornish: kay m
• Czech: nábřeží (cs) n, přístaviště (cs) n, přístavní hráz
• Danish: kaj (da) c
• Dutch: kade (nl) f, kaai (nl) f
• Esperanto: kajo (eo)
• Estonian: kai (et)
• Faroese: kai f, kei f
• Finnish: laituri (fi)
• French: quai (fr) m
• Galician: caes m, cai m, peirao (gl) m, peirau m, embarcadoiro (gl) m
• Georgian: ნავსაბელი (navsabeli), სანაპირო (sanaṗiro), ნავთსადგომი (navtsadgomi)
• German: Kai (de) n, Anlegestelle (de) f, Pier (de) m
• Greek: προκυμαία (el) f (prokymaía)
• Hebrew: מֶזַח (he) m (mézakh)
• Hungarian: rakpart (hu), rakodópart (hu)
• Indonesian: dermaga (id)
• Irish: cé f
• Italian: banchina (it)
• Japanese: 波止場 (ja) (はとば, hatoba), 埠頭 (ja) (ふとう, futō)
• Korean: 부두(埠頭) (ko) (budu)
• Latvian: piestātne f
• Lithuanian: prieplauka f
• Macedonian: кеј (mk) m (kej), пристаниште n (pristanište)
• Malay: dermaga, jeti
• Manx: keiy
• Nahuatl: tlalmantli
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kai (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: kai f or m

• Polish: molo (pl) n, nabrzeże (pl) n
• Portuguese: cais (pt) m, embarcadouro (pt) m, ancoradouro (pt) m
• Romanian: chei (ro)
• Russian: на́бережная (ru) f (náberežnaja), прича́л (ru) m (pričál), мол (ru) m (mol), при́стань (ru) f (prístanʹ)
• Sanskrit: घट्ट (sa) m (ghaṭṭa)
• Scottish Gaelic: laimrig f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: прѝстанӣште m, до̏к m, мо̑л m, кеј m

  Roman: prìstanīšte (sh) m, dȍk (sh) m, mȏl (sh) m, kej (sh) m

• Slovak: nábreží n
• Slovene: pomol (sl) m
• Spanish: muelle (es) m, embarcadero (es) m
• Swedish: kaj (sv)
• Tagalog: pantalan
• Turkish: rıhtım (tr), iskele (tr)
• Ukrainian: на́бережна f (náberežna)
• Vietnamese: ke (vi), bờ xây
• Welsh: cei m, ceiau m pl

Verb

quay (third-person singular simple present quays, present participle quaying, simple past and past participle quayed)

1. To land or tie up at a quay or similar structure, especially used in the phrase "quay up".

See also

• dock; pier; float; cay; harbour, harbor; mole; riprap; wharf

Etymology 2

Adjective

quay (comparative quayer, superlative quayest)

1. (MLE) Alternative spelling of qway (“far”)

Adverb

quay (comparative quayer, superlative quayest)

1. (MLE) Alternative spelling of qway (“far”)

References

• “quay”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• quya

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *kweː.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kwaj˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kwaj˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [waj˧˧]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

Verb

quay • (𢮿, 虧, 𢵴, 乖, 怪, 外)

1. to turn; to revolve; to swivel

   Synonym: xoay

2. to whirl; to reverse; to turn back
3. to spit roast
4. (by extension) to film
5. (by extension, transitive) to dial (a phone number)

   quay số 9-1-1 ― to dial 9-1-1

Derived terms

Derived terms

• heo quay
• lăn quay
• máy quay
• quay cóp
• quay cuồng
• quay phim
• quay quắt
• quay quần
• quay tay
• quay vòng
• quay xổ số
• trường quay
• vòng đu quay