jayとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源 1

From Middle English jay, from Old French jai ("jay"; Modern French geai), either from Late Latin gaius (“jay”),^[1] or from Old French gai (“gay, merry”), so named due to its plumage, from Old Frankish *gāhi (“quick, impetuous”), from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden”), cognate with Dutch gaai (“jay”). More on the latter etymology at gay.

名詞

jay (複数形 jays)

1. Any of the numerous species of birds belonging to several genera within the family Corvidae, including Garrulus, Cyanocitta, Aphelocoma, Perisoreus, Cyanocorax, Gymnorhinus, Cyanolyca, Ptilostomus, and Calocitta, allied to the crows, but smaller, more graceful in form, often handsomely coloured, usually having a crest, and often noisy.
2. Any of various other birds of similar appearance and behaviour.
   1. The Indian roller, Coracias benghalensis.
      • 1878, Philip Stewart Robinson, In My Indian Garden

        They are the commonality of birddom, who furnish forth the mobs which bewilder the drunken-flighted jay when he jerks, shrieking in a series of blue hyphen-flashes through the air […]

3. Any of various large papilionid butterflies of the genus Graphium.
4. (archaic) A dull or ignorant person. It survives today in the term jaywalking.
   • 1900, Harry B. Norris, Burlington Bertie (song)

     Burlington Bertie's the latest young jay
     He rents a swell flat somewhere Kensington way
     He spends the good oof that his pater has made
     Along with the Brandy and Soda Brigade.

5. (obsolete) Promiscuous woman; prostitute.
   • a. 1611, Shakespeare, William, Cymbeline, act 3, scene 4, lines 50–51:

     Some jay of Italy, / Whose mother was her painting, hath betray'd him:

同意語

• (bird): Jenny jay, jay pie, k, kae (英国用法); bluejay, whisky jack (米国用法)
• (ignorant person): See Thesaurus:ignoramus
• (promiscuous woman): See Thesaurus:promiscuous woman or Thesaurus:prostitute

下位語

• (bird): Old World jay, gray jay, American jay

派生語

参考

• Jay on Wikipedia.
• Corvidae on Wikispecies.

語源 2

Respelling of the letter jy (which see), by analogy with the following letter kay.

名詞

jay (複数形 jays)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter J.
2. (slang) A marijuana cigarette; a joint.
   • 2009, Caitlin Moran, The Times, 23 Mar 2009:

     Although sympathetic, my main reaction was to think: “Some people can handle it, and some people can’t,” and then smugly light up a big fat jay.

派生語

• deejay
• Jaycee
• peejays

参考

• (Latin-script letter names) letter; a, bee, cee, dee, e, ef, gee, aitch, i, jay, kay, el, em, en, o, pee, cue, ar, ess, tee, u, vee, double-u, ex, wye, zee / zed

参照

• jay in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913