quay

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a wharf usually built parallel to the shoreline

   Fishers sell their fresh catches along the quay.

2. 2
   noun

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

   Moor up in the quay.

Simplified etymology

Quay comes from Old French kay, a word of Celtic origin. English originally spelled it key, matching its pronunciation, but changed the spelling in the mid-16th century under the influence of French quai; cay or key for a sandbar is the same word.

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”).

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary