key

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A small metal object that you use to lock or unlock a door, start a car, etc.

   I can't find my house key anywhere.

2. 2
   noun

   The most important thing that explains or helps you achieve something.

   Hard work is the key to success.

3. 3
   noun

   A set of answers to a test or a guide to symbols on a map.

   Check your answers against the key at the back of the book.

4. 4
   verb

   To deliberately damage a car by scratching it with a key.

   Someone keyed my car in the parking lot last night.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Key in the geographical sense of “sandbar” is the same word as cay and quay. It comes from Old French kay, of Celtic origin. Key was also the original English spelling of quay, matching its pronunciation, before that spelling changed under the influence of French quai in the mid-16th century.

From Middle English keye, kaye, keiȝe, from Old English cǣġ (“key, solution, experiment”) (whence also Scots key and kay (“key”)), from Anglo-Frisian Proto-West Germanic *kaiju, of uncertain origin. The only sure cognates are Saterland Frisian Koai (“key”), West Frisian kaai (“key”), and North Frisian kai, koie (“key”). Possibly from Proto-Germanic *kēgaz, *kēguz (“stake, post, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵogʰ-, *ǵegʰ-, *ǵegʰn- (“branch, stake, bush”), which would make it cognate with Middle Low German kāk (“whipping post, pillory”), and perhaps to Middle Dutch keige (“javelin, spear”) a…

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External links

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