gayとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源 1

Male gay couple

Female gay couple

From Middle English gay, from Old French gai (“joyful, laughing, merry”), usually thought to be a borrowing of Old Occitan gai (“impetuous, lively”), from Gothic *������������ (*gaheis, “impetuous”), merging with earlier Old French jai ("merry"; see jay), from Frankish *gāhi;^[1] both from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden”). This is possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- (“to stride, step”), from *ǵʰēy- (“to go”),^[2][3] but Kroonen rejects this derivation and treats the Germanic word as having no known etymology.^[4]

形容詞

gay (comparative gayer, superlative gayest)

1. (dated, possibly archaic) Happy, joyful, and lively.

   The Gay Science

   • 1405 Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Canterbury Tales (source):

     (Line 221) To bringe me gaye thinges fro the fayre.

     (Line 236) Why is my neighebores wyf so gay?

     (Line 298) That I was born, and make me fresh and gay,

     (Line 508) But in oure bed he was so fressh and gay

     (Line 545) For ever yet I lovede to be gay,

   • c. 1692, William Walch, preface to Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant, in John Dryden, The Fourth Part of Miſcellany Poems, Jacob Tonson (publisher, 1716), page 338:

     Never was there a more copious Fancy or greater reach of Wit, than what appears in Dr. Donne; nothing can be more gallant or gentile than the poems of Mr. Waller; nothing more gay or ſprightly than thoſe of Sir John Suckling; and nothing fuller of Variety and Learning than Mr. Cowley’s.

   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Affair at the Novelty Theatre‎^[3]:

     Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.

   • 1934, George Marion Jr. et al., (title):

     The Gay Divorcee.

   • 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur (Faber & Faber 1992), page 252:

     The excitement engendered by the decision to die perked him right up; he had not felt so gay for ages.

2. (dated) Quick, fast.
   • 1873, Gwordie Greenup, Yance a Year, 25:

     I went a gay shack, / For it started to rain.

   • 1918, Hunter-trader-trapper, page 36:

     We launched our canoe and were off at a gay clip for Hackettstown, where Mart had a married sister, and we were figuring on big eats.

   • 2016, Laura Jean Libbey, Mischievous Maid Faynie, Library of Alexandria (→ISBN):

     " […] there is no one more competent to make it fly at a gay pace than myself. A prince of the royal blood couldn't go at a faster pace than I have been going during these last three weeks! Ha, ha, ha!" In a moment he was kneeling before the safe.

   • 2019, Lawrence Lariar, He Died Laughing, Open Road Media (→ISBN):

     We shot along Sunset Boulevard at a gay pace, and squealed a turn down Vine Street with never a jitterbug pedestrian to make the driving interesting.

3. (dated, possibly archaic) Festive, bright, or colourful.

   Pennsylvania Dutch include the plain folk and the gay folk.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 10”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     A Beavie of fair women, richly gay / In gems and wanton dress.

   • 1881, J. P. McCaskey (editor), “Deck the Hall^[sic]”, Franklin Square Song Collection, number 1, Harper & Brothers (New York), page 120:

     Don we now our gay apparel.

   • 1944, Ralph Blane, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, Meet Me in St. Louis, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

     Make the Yule-tide gay / From now on our troubles will be miles away

4. (obsolete) Sexually promiscuous (of any gender), (sometimes particularly) engaged in prostitution.
   • 1806 (edition of 1815), John Davis, The Post-Captain, page 150:

     As our heroes passed along the Strand, they were accosted by a hundred gay ladies, who asked them if they were good-natured. "Devil take me!" exclaimed Echo, "if I know which way my ship heads; but there is not a girl in the Strand that I would touch with my gloves on."

   • 1856, Bayle St. John, The Subalpine kingdom: or, Experiences and studies in Savoy, Piedmont, and Genoa, Volume 2 page 158:

     Prince Borghese was what is called a "gay, dissipated man"—that is to say, a powerful person leading a debauched and infamous life.

   • 1879, House of Commons, Great Britain, Reports from committees, page 61:

     […] it is possible for people to be diseased without being prostitutes or gay women; it is possible for people years ago to have spent a gay life and to have not got rid of their disease, or they may have become diseased by their husbands or lovers.

   • 1889, Albert Barrère, Charles Godfrey Leland, A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant: Embracing English, American, and Anglo-Indian Slang, Pidgin English, Tinker's Jargon and Other Irregular Phraseology, Volume 1, page 399:

     Gay (common), loose, dissipated; a "gay woman" or "gay girl," a prostitute. "All gay," vide ALL GAY.

   • 1898, John Mackinnon Robertson, G. Aston Singer, "The Social Evil Problem" in The University magazine and free review: a monthly magazine, Volume 9, page 308:

     She imprudently forms the acquaintance of a "gay girl" living in the same street.

   • 1899, Henry Fielding, Edmund Gosse (editor), The works of Henry Fielding with an introduction, Volume 11, page 290:

     "As nothing could be more gay, i.e., debauched, than Zeno's court, so the ladies of gay disposition had great sway in it; particularly one, whose name was Fausta, who, though not extremely handsome, was by her wit and sprightliness very agreeable to the emperor.

   • 1937, Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon, page 357:

     "It's an odd thing," he observed, "that men like Crutchley, with quantities of large white teeth, are practically always gay Lotharios."

5. Homosexual:
   1. (of a person または animal) Possessing sexual and/or emotional attraction towards members of the same sex.

      Cliff is gay, but his twin brother is straight.

      • 1947, Rorschach Research Exchange and Journal of Projective Techniques[4], page 240:

        He was not happy at the farm and went to a Western city where he associated with a homosexual crowd, being "gay," and wearing female clothes and makeup.

      • 2003, Michael McAvennie, The World Wrestling Entertainment Yearbook:

        She couldn't even gain access from a family friend whose name was on the list, nor could she use her feminine charms to turn on the staff member, who revealed he was gay and was more impressed seeing Billy and Chuck enter the building.

      • 2007, Kevin P. Murphy, Jason Ruiz, David Serlin, Queer Futures, Radical History Review (Duke University Press), page 58:

        The two failed attempts to receive the necessary access to medicalized transition procedures by the renowned FTM activist Lou Sullivan—a gay man who refused to comply with the imperative that transsexual men must desire women— […]

      • 2009, Betty Jean Lifton, Lost & Found: the Adoption Experience, page 67:

        Her adoptive mother fainted when Gail told her she was gay.

      • 2010, Noėl Sturgeon, Environmentalism in Popular Culture: Gender, Race, Sexuality, and the Politics of the Natural, page 128:

        In fact, as several letter writers to the New York Times pointed out in their response to the article, the disjuncture between these two popularized penguins shows how radically separated from each other are communities of gay people and communities of right-wing religious conservatives: if the Christian fundamentalists had looked up “gay penguins” or even “penguins” on the Internet, they would have encountered several gay penguin sites, including the story of Roy and Silo, the Central Park Zoo gay penguin couple about whom a children's book was written; the saga of the gay penguin community at a German zoo; and the campaign of Gay Penguin for President (whose slogan was “George W. Bush talks the talk, but Gay Penguin walks the walk.”)

   2. (of a romantic または sexual act または relationship) Being between two or more people of the same sex, especially between two men.

      Although the number of gay weddings has increased significantly, many gay and lesbian couples — like many straight couples — are not interested in getting married.

      gay marriage

      gay sex

   3. (of an institution または group) Intended for gay people, especially gay men.

      She professes an undying love for gay bars and gay movies, and even admits to having watched gay porn.

      • 2003, Lawrence Block, Small Town, page 269:

        He might well have suspected Cheek was a gay bar without seeing any of its patrons, simply because it was in a neighborhood where most of the bars were gay, and because you couldn't see in the windows.

      • 2004, Martin Hughes, Sarah Johnstone, Tom Masters, London, page 208:

        Turn left into chilled-out Old Compton St and try to guess which bars are gay. Even the straight bars in Soho are quite gay, so it's often a bit hard to tell.

      • 2010, Jay Mohr, No Wonder My Parents Drank: Tales from a Stand-Up Dad, page 252:

        Again I was to masturbate into a cup and again the majority of the porn was gay.

   4. (slang, with for) Homosexually in love with someone.
      • 2014 December 6, Ej Dickson, “The 7 worst things about NBC's "Peter Pan Live!"”, in Salon.com‎^[5]:

        […] the pirates, who are obviously totally gay for each other […]

      • 2014, Christopher Schaberg, Robert Bennett, Deconstructing Brad Pitt, Bloomsbury Publishing USA (→ISBN), page 211:

        Being gay for Brad, even a teensy bit, is at the very least being able to imagine the potential for queerness. In a sense, like the recent popular and critical furor over men who are gay-for-pay, being gay for Brad is what Jeffrey Escoffier defines as "situational homosexuality," or other forms of man-on-man behavior […] In other words, rather than worry over whether or not men who are queer for Brad can easily be labeled as straight or gay, […]

      • 2017 May 2, German Lopez, “Stephen Colbert tried to insult Donald Trump. He made a homophobic comment instead.”, in Vox‎^[6]:

        […] it’s now pretty popular among progressives to paint the US and Russian presidents as being gay for each other.

   5. (slang, humorous, with for) Infatuated with something, aligning with homosexual stereotypes.
      • 2014 December 31, Dan Savage, quoting anonymous, “Savage Love”, in The Stranger‎^[7]:

        Vanilla straight guy here. […] Is it socially acceptable for me to good-naturedly say, "I'm totally gay for musical theater"?

   6. In accordance with stereotypes of homosexual people:
      1. (loosely, of appearance または behavior) Being in accordance with stereotypes of gay people, especially gay men.
      2. (loosely, of a person, especially a man) Exhibiting appearance or behavior that accords with stereotypes of gay people, especially gay men.
         • a. 2005, Jason Christopher Hartley, “October 23, 2004: This Is My Weapon, This Is My Gerber”, in Just Another Soldier: A Year on the Ground in Iraq, HarperCollins (2005), →ISBN, page 25:

           This incident has become a source of much discussion, and the jury is still out on who is more gay: the guy who touched a dick or the guy who let a guy touch his dick.

6. A pejorative:
   1. (slang, derogatory) Effeminate or flamboyant in behavior.
   2. (slang, derogatory) Used to express dislike: lame, uncool, stupid.

      Synonym: ghey

      This game is gay; let’s play a different one.

      • 1996, Lisa's Date With Density, The Simpsons (cartoon television series). Upon discovering Nelson kissing Lisa:

        Dolph: "Oh, man! You kissed a girl!"

        Jimbo: "That is so gay!"

7. (of a dog's tail) Upright or curved over the back.
   • 1997, Michael DeVine, Border Collies:

     While the dog in concentrating at a given task, the tail is carried low and used for balance. In excitement it may rise level with the back. A “gay” tail is a fault.

   • 2000, David Leavitt, Martin Bauman; or, a Sure Thing:

     By now Nora had left my side and was grappling with Maisie, trying to hold her still long enough to examine her bit. “You haven’t trained her well,” she muttered to Eli. “Oh, she’s got a gay tail!” Eli laughed. “A gay tail? What does that mean?” “It curls upward.” Nona let Maisie go. “Still, you never intended her to be a show dog,” she added. brushing off her skirt as she made for the house.

8. (Scotland, Northern England, possibly obsolete) Considerable, great, large in number, size, or degree.
   • 1832, George Pearson, Evenings by Eden-side: Or, Essays and Poems, page 67:

     As his reply was rather characteristic, I will give it : Many of them come a gay bit off.

   • 1872, William Cullen Bryant, A Library of Poetry and Song, page 106:

     Thou 's wantin' a sweetheart? Thou 's had a gay few! An' thou 's cheatit them, […]

   • 1876 (edition; original 1871), Richardson, Talk 1:

     A gay deal different to what I is noo.

   • 1881, Dixon, Craven Dales:

     There were a gay bit of lace on it.

   • 1881, Edwin Waugh, Tufts of Heather, I. 106:

     T'country-side was rid on him for a gay while.

   • 1895, Sir Hall Caine, The Shadow of a Crime: A Cumbrian Romance, page 131:

     "He has a gay bit of gumption in him, has Ray. It'll be no kitten play to catch hold on him, and they know that they do." The emphasis was accompanied by a lowered tone, and a sidelong motion of the head towards a doorway […]

   • 1903, Robert Smith Surtees, Handley Cross, New York : D. Appleton, page 431:

     "It's a gay bit off, though." "Trot on!" retorted Mr. Jorrocks anxiously, spurring Arterxerxes vehemently, an insult that the animal resented by a duck of his head and a hoist of his heels. Bump, bump, trot, trot, squash, splash, swosh, they went  ...

使用する際の注意点

• The predominant use of gay in recent decades has been in the sense homosexual, or in the pejorative sense. The earlier uses of festive, colorful and bright are still found, especially in literary contexts; however, this usage has fallen out of fashion and is now likely to be misunderstood by those who are unaware of it.
• Gay is preferred to homosexual by many gay (homosexual) people as their own term for themselves. Some claim that homosexual is dated and evokes a time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness by the mental health community, while others feel that the word homosexual(ity) does not express the emotional aspects of sexual orientation.
• In the broad political sense, gay usually refers to anything pertaining to same-sex relationships, whether male or female: gay rights and gay marriage. When used in coordination with other terms for sexual orientations, it usually specifically refers to men who are attracted only to men, and excludes lesbians, bisexuals and other orientations, as in phrases like lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB). Context is sometimes necessary to determine whether or not gay implies male in a given phrase.
• Since at least the 1950s, gay has sometimes been used as a broad umbrella term for all queer and gender-nonconforming (transgender かつ genderqueer/non-binary) people, similar to LGBTQ.^[9][10][11]

派生語

関連する語

• jay

派生した語

• → Irish: aerach (calque)

名詞

gay (複数形 gays)

1. (now chiefly in the plural) A homosexual, especially a male homosexual.

   Coordinate term: lesbian

   • 1969, “N.Y. Gays: Will the Spark Die?”, in The Advocate‎^[8]:

     [headline] N.Y. Gays: Will the Spark Die?

   • 1974, Earl Wilson, Show Business Laid Bare‎^[9]:

     "Same-sex dancing, as we call it, is quite legal," a gay named Lew Todd, who was one of the spokesmen, spoke up.

   • 2003, Marilyn J. Davidson, ‎Sandra L. Fielden, Individual Diversity and Psychology in Organizations (page 73)

     Yet that does not mean that the issues, concerns and attitudes of gays and lesbians in the workplace are not important.

   • 2004, Betty Berzon, Permanent Partners: Building Gay & Lesbian Relationships That Last (page 20)

     Older gays and lesbians often relegate themselves to separate and unequal meeting places.

2. (dialectal, obsolete) Something which is bright or colorful, such as a picture or a flower.
   • 1839, Charles Clark, John Noakes and Mary Styles, st. 157:

     At a stall soon Mary bote / A hume-book full ov gays.

   • 1892, P. H. Emerson, A Son of the Fens, page 73:

     I had no books to read, but plenty of gays to look at.

   • 1893, Cozens-Hardy, Broad Nrf., page 38:

     ‘Can't you mow the aftermath in the churchyard before Sunday?’ ‘Not time enough, sir, but I'll cut off they gays.’

   • a. 1900, W. R. Eaton of Norfolk, quoted in 1900, Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary:

     There's a good child; look at the gays, and keep quiet.

3. (obsolete) An ornament, a knick-knack.
   • a. 1704, L'Estrange:

     Look upon precepts in emblems, as they do to upon gays and pictures.

   • 1906, Cornish Notes & Queries: (first Series) (Cornish Telegraph, Peter Penn), page 132:

     If however the stranger be suspected of “sailing under false colours," when they are all in familiar chat about nothing in particular, “Cousin Jacky” will take occasion to say to the new chum, “My dear; ded 'e ever see a duck clunk a gay?" [...] no more deceived by him than a duck can be made to clunk (swallow) a gay (fragment of broken crockery).

使用する際の注意点

• Gay may be regarded as offensive when used as a noun to refer to particular individuals.^[10]
• Gay is sometimes used broadly/loosely to refer to anyone who is attracted to and/or sexually active with members of the same sex, even if their orientation is in fact e.g. bisexual.^[12]

同意語

• see Thesaurus:homosexual person and Thesaurus:male homosexual

派生語

• (gay person): gay bashing
• (colorful object または flower; ornament): nosegay

動詞

gay (三人称単数 現在形 gays, 現在分詞 gaying, 過去形および過去分詞形 gayed)

1. (transitive, dated, まれに) To make happy or cheerful. [since at least the 1920s]
   • 1922, Thomas Hardy, Late lyrics and earlier: with many other verses, page 119:

     SAYING GOOD-BYE (song)

     WE are always saying / "Good-bye, good-bye! / In work, in playing, / In gloom, in gaying […]

   • 1952, American Childhood, volume 38, page 2:

     Gaying Things Up For Christmas. JESSIE TODD, Laboratory School, University of Chicago.

     EVERY schoolroom in America is gayed up for Christmas.

2. (transitive, まれに) To cause (something, e.g. AIDS) to be associated with homosexual people. [popularized in the 1990s]

関連する語

• de-gay
• re-gay

副詞

gay

1. (Scotland, Northern England) Considerably, very.
   • 1833, John Sim Sands, Poems on Various Subjects, page 115:

     And, tho' his guts ware lank and toom, / They're twice as big's this gay big room.

   • 1869, Joseph Carr, Sketches of village life, by “Eavesdropper”, page 60:

     Now, to end my story, if o' t' village beauties wad git t' religion that good auld parson Jenkins recommends, it wad gay sharply mak' t' dirty women clean, […]

   • 1875, Dickinson, Cumbriana; Or, Fragments of Cumbrian Life, page 8:

     […] an' be t' Silver Cwove, an' than throo t' Pillar, an' a gay rough bit o' grund it is!

   • 1886, Thomas Farrall, Betty Wilson's Cummerland Teals, 42:

     When a fellah com' in 'at was gay free wid spendin.

   • 1892-3, Mrs. Humphry Ward, The History of David Grieve, volume I, page 19:

     She'll mak naw moor mischeef neets—she's gay quiet now!

参照

• Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006), page 450, "gay"
• “GAY” in Joseph Wright, editor, The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Published by Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1900, →OCLC.

語源 2

From Pitman kay, which it is derived from graphically, and the sound it represents. The traditional name gee was considered inappropriate, as the Pitman letter never has the sound of that name.

名詞

gay (複数形 gays)

1. The letter —, which stands for the sound /ɡ/, in Pitman shorthand.

関連する語

• gee (in Latin script)

アナグラム

• YAG