pay
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: pā, IPA(key): /peɪ/, [pʰeɪ]
Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -eɪ
Etymology 1
From Middle English payen, from Old French paiier (“pay”), from Medieval Latin pācāre (“to settle, satisfy”) from Latin pācāre (“to pacify”). In this sense, displaced native Old English ġield (“pay”) and ġieldan (“to pay”), whence Modern English yield.
Verb
pay (third-person singular simple present pays, present participle paying, simple past and past participle paid or (obsolete) payed)
- (transitive) To give money or other compensation to in exchange for goods or services.
- he paid him to clean the place up
- he paid her off the books and in kind where possible
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.
- 2012, BioWare, Mass Effect 3, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:
- Admiral Hackett: You can pay a soldier to fire a gun. You can pay him to charge the enemy. But you can't pay him to believe.
- 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 48:
- The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […] and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.
- (transitive, intransitive) To discharge, as a debt or other obligation, by giving or doing what is due or required.
- she offered to pay the bill
- he has paid his debt to society
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 37:21:
- The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:
- 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
- Yet in “Through a Latte, Darkly”, a new study of how Starbucks has largely avoided paying tax in Britain, Edward Kleinbard […] shows that current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate what he calls “stateless income”: […]. In Starbucks’s case, the firm has in effect turned the process of making an expensive cup of coffee into intellectual property.
- (transitive) To be profitable for.
- It didn't pay him to keep the store open any more.
- (transitive) To give (something else than money).
- to pay attention
- c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
- not paying me a welcome
- 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC, page 9:
- They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups.
- (intransitive) To be profitable or worth the effort.
- crime doesn’t pay
- it will pay to wait
- (intransitive) To discharge an obligation or debt.
- He was allowed to go as soon as he paid.
- (intransitive) To suffer consequences.
- He paid for his fun in the sun with a terrible sunburn.
- (transitive) To admit that a joke, punchline, etc., was funny.
- 1996, Jon Byrell, Lairs, Urgers and Coat-Tuggers, Sydney: Ironbark, page 294:
- Sutho took a pull at his Johnny Walker and Coke and laughed that trademark laugh of his and said: `Okay. I'll pay that all right.'
Conjugation
| infinitive | (to) pay | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st-person singular | pay | paid, payed† | |
| 2nd-person singular | pay, payest† | paid, paidest†, paidst†, payed†, payedst† | |
| 3rd-person singular | pays, payeth† | paid, payed† | |
| plural | pay | ||
| subjunctive | pay | paid, payed† | |
| imperative | pay | — | |
| participles | paying | paid, payed† | |
Hypernyms
- (to give money): compensate
Hyponyms
Hyponyms of pay (to give money)
Derived terms
- ability to pay
- borrow from Peter to pay Paul
- buy and pay for
- crime doesn't pay
- devil to pay
- hell to pay
- high-paying
- if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys
- low-paying
- not pay any mind
- pay and display
- pay-and-display
- pay-as-you-eat
- pay-as-you-go
- pay attention
- pay a visit
- pay back in someone's own coin
- pay-by-wave
- pay dearly
- pay dirt
- pay dividends
- pay down
- payee
- payer
- pay for
- pay for itself
- pay for one's whistle
- pay for play
- pay heed
- pay homage to
- pay home
- pay it forward
- payment
- pay nature's debt
- pay no heed
- pay no mind
- pay off old scores
- pay one's addresses
- pay one's debt to society
- pay one's last respects
- pay one's own freight
- pay or play
- pay overs
- pay-per-click
- pay per play
- pay-per-view
- pay someone's way
- pay the debt of nature
- pay the fiddler
- pay the price
- pay the rent
- pay the ultimate price
- pay through the nose
- pay-to-play
- pay to play
- pay to stay
- pay-to-stay
- pay towards
- pay to win
- pay-to-win
- pay train
- pay with one's life
- pitch and pay
- play or pay
- press F to pay respects
- procure to pay
- purchase to pay
- rob Peter to pay Paul
- take or pay
- take-or-pay
- you get what you pay for
Descendants
Translations
to give money in exchange for goods or services
|
to discharge by giving or doing what is due or required
to be profitable for
to give (e.g. attention)
to be profitable
|
intransitive: to discharge an obligation or debt
intransitive: to suffer consequences
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
Noun
pay (countable and uncountable, plural pays)
- Money given in return for work; salary or wages.
- Many employers have rules designed to keep employees from comparing their pays.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.
Derived terms
- back pay
- base pay
- basic pay
- beyond one's pay grade
- combat pay
- danger pay
- dead-pay
- equal pay
- equal pay for equal work
- for-pay
- gay for pay
- gross pay
- half pay
- hand pay
- hazard pay
- holiday pay
- in the pay of
- isolation pay
- min pay
- net pay
- pay advice
- pay check
- pay cheque
- pay cut
- pay day
- pay freeze
- pay gap
- pay grade
- pay-neutral
- pay office
- pay packet
- pay phone
- pay pig
- pay piggy
- pay raise
- pay rise
- payrun
- payscale
- payslip
- pay spine
- pay stub
- pay table
- pay television
- pay toilet
- pay train
- paytriot
- pay TV
- say on pay
- separation pay
- severance pay
- sick pay
- take-home pay
Translations
money given in return for work
|
Adjective
pay (not comparable)
- Operable or accessible on deposit of coins.
- pay toilet
- Pertaining to or requiring payment.
- pay television
Translations
operable or accessible on deposit of coins
Etymology 2
From Old French peier, from Latin picare (“to cover with pitch”).
Verb
pay (third-person singular simple present pays, present participle paying, simple past and past participle payed or paid)
- (nautical, transitive) To cover (the bottom of a vessel, a seam, a spar, etc.) with tar or pitch, or a waterproof composition of tallow, resin, etc.; to smear.
Translations
Further reading
- “pay”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “pay”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “pay”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
Noun
pay
References
- Terry Crowley, The Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri (1981), page 187
| Cyrillic | пај | |
|---|---|---|
| Abjad | پای | |
Etymology
According to Nişanyan, from Persian پای (pây, “foot”), with the sense ”share” originating from the Persian expression borrowed into Old Anatolian Turkish بای برابر (pây-berâber, “equally, to the same proportion”, literally “equal foot”). The word is present in its modern sense in XIVth century Book of Dede Korkut. The non-Oghuz Turkic cognates, such as Kirgiz and Yakut пай (pay, “share”) are, according to Nişanyan, a borrowing from the Ottoman Turkish پای, via Russian пай (paj). However it is more possibly borrowed from Middle Chinese 派 (pʰaiH) as early as 7th century and inherited by later Turkic languages.
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Noun
pay (definite accusative payı, plural paylar)
Declension
| Possessive forms of pay | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | ||||||||
| singular | plural | |||||||
| mənim (“my”) | payım | paylarım | ||||||
| sənin (“your”) | payın | payların | ||||||
| onun (“his/her/its”) | payı | payları | ||||||
| bizim (“our”) | payımız | paylarımız | ||||||
| sizin (“your”) | payınız | paylarınız | ||||||
| onların (“their”) | payı or payları | payları | ||||||
| accusative | ||||||||
| singular | plural | |||||||
| mənim (“my”) | payımı | paylarımı | ||||||
| sənin (“your”) | payını | paylarını | ||||||
| onun (“his/her/its”) | payını | paylarını | ||||||
| bizim (“our”) | payımızı | paylarımızı | ||||||
| sizin (“your”) | payınızı | paylarınızı | ||||||
| onların (“their”) | payını or paylarını | paylarını | ||||||
| dative | ||||||||
| singular | plural | |||||||
| mənim (“my”) | payıma | paylarıma | ||||||
| sənin (“your”) | payına | paylarına | ||||||
| onun (“his/her/its”) | payına | paylarına | ||||||
| bizim (“our”) | payımıza | paylarımıza | ||||||
| sizin (“your”) | payınıza | paylarınıza | ||||||
| onların (“their”) | payına or paylarına | paylarına | ||||||
| locative | ||||||||
| singular | plural | |||||||
| mənim (“my”) | payımda | paylarımda | ||||||
| sənin (“your”) | payında | paylarında | ||||||
| onun (“his/her/its”) | payında | paylarında | ||||||
| bizim (“our”) | payımızda | paylarımızda | ||||||
| sizin (“your”) | payınızda | paylarınızda | ||||||
| onların (“their”) | payında or paylarında | paylarında | ||||||
| ablative | ||||||||
| singular | plural | |||||||
| mənim (“my”) | payımdan | paylarımdan | ||||||
| sənin (“your”) | payından | paylarından | ||||||
| onun (“his/her/its”) | payından | paylarından | ||||||
| bizim (“our”) | payımızdan | paylarımızdan | ||||||
| sizin (“your”) | payınızdan | paylarınızdan | ||||||
| onların (“their”) | payından or paylarından | paylarından | ||||||
| genitive | ||||||||
| singular | plural | |||||||
| mənim (“my”) | payımın | paylarımın | ||||||
| sənin (“your”) | payının | paylarının | ||||||
| onun (“his/her/its”) | payının | paylarının | ||||||
| bizim (“our”) | payımızın | paylarımızın | ||||||
| sizin (“your”) | payınızın | paylarınızın | ||||||
| onların (“their”) | payının or paylarının | paylarının | ||||||
Derived terms
- paylamaq (“to distribute”)
- paylaşmaq (“to divide among one-selves”)
References
- Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “pay”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
Etymology
From English pi, Ancient Greek πεῖ (peî).
Pronunciation
- Hyphenation: pay
Noun
pay
- the name of the sixteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets and the seventeenth in Old Greek
- (mathematics) an irrational and transcendental constant representing the ratio of the circumference of a Euclidean circle to its diameter; approximately 3.14159265358979323846264338327950; usually written π
Verb
pay
- to guide
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Particle
pay (Kur-itan spelling ᜉᜌ᜔)
References
Etymology
From Proto-Mayan *pahar.
Noun
pay
References
- Church, Clarence, Church, Katherine (1955) Vocabulario castellano-jacalteco, jacalteco-castellano (in Spanish), Guatemala C. A.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, page 65; 39
Noun
pay
- A goat
Noun
pay
References
- RWC Workshop (eds.). 2015. Komo – English Dictionary. SIL International.
Adverb
pay
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
pay ?
Etymology
From padre, from Latin patrem (“father”), from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr.
Pronunciation
Noun
pay m (plural pays)
- (hypocoristic, usually childish) papa, dad, father
- 1525-1526, Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional, João de Gaia, B 1433: Vosso pai na rua (facsimile)
- Vosso pay na Rua / anta porta sua
- Your dad [is] on the street / before his door
- 1525-1526, Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional, João de Gaia, B 1433: Vosso pai na rua (facsimile)
Synonyms
Coordinate terms
Descendants
Noun
pay m (plural pays)
- Obsolete spelling of pai.
- 1545, Garcia de Resende, Liuro das obras de Garcia de Reſẽnde que trata da vida […] do christianiſſimo; muito alto ⁊ muyto poderoſo principe el Rey dõ João o ſegundo deſte nome, page 1:
- De ſeu pay ⁊ ſua mãy ⁊ ſeu nacimento.
- About his father and his mother and his birth.
Pronunciation
Pronoun
pay
See also
Quechua personal pronouns
Noun
pay
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
pay m (plural pays)
- (Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru) pie (food)
- (Panama, slang, by analogy from sense 1) A highly attractive person, typically, but not exclusively, referring to a female; a bombshell. (Compare English snack)
Derived terms
- pay de coco (“coconut cream pie”)
- pay de leche condensada (“condensed milk cake”)
- pay de queso (“cheesecake”) (Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Guatemala)
Etymology
From Ottoman Turkish پای (pay), ultimately from Middle Chinese 派 (pài, “to hand out, distribute”).
Pronunciation
Noun
pay (definite accusative payı, plural paylar)
Declension
| Inflection | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | pay | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Definite accusative | payı | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Singular | Plural | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nominative | pay | paylar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Definite accusative | payı | payları | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dative | paya | paylara | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locative | payda | paylarda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ablative | paydan | paylardan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genitive | payın | payların | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
- pay etmek (“to distribute”)
- paylaşmak (“to divide among one-selves”)
- paylaşık (“shared”)
Descendants
- Armenian: փայ (pʻay)
References
- Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “pay”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
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