tray

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A flat object with raised edges used for carrying food, drinks, or other items.

   The waiter carried the drinks over on a tray.

2. 2
   noun

   A flat part of a machine that slides in or out to hold something.

   He put the disc into the CD tray and closed it.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Tray comes from late Old English trīg and belongs to the Germanic word family that also produced tree. Its earliest sense may have been “wooden container,” which also explains its relationship to trough, originally a wooden vessel.

From Middle English trey, from Old English trēġ, trīġ (“wooden board, tray”), from Proto-West Germanic *trauwi, from Proto-Germanic *trawją (“wooden vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *drewo-, *dóru (“tree; wood”). Cognate with Old Norse treyja (“carrier”), Old Swedish trø (“wooden grain measure”), Low German Treechel (“dough trough”), Ancient Greek δροίτη (droítē, “tub, vat”), Sanskrit द्रोण (droṇa, “trough”). Related to trough and tree.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary