"gay" meaning in English

See gay in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /geɪ/ [UK], /geɪ/ [US] Audio: en-us-gay.ogg [US] Forms: gay [positive], gayer [comparative], gayest [superlative]
enPR: /gā/ [UK], /gā/ [US] Head templates: {{adj|gay|gayer|gayest}} [POS TABLE]
  1. happy or cheerful.
    Sense id: simple-gay-en-adj-hkFGs3VJ
  2. colorful, festive or bright.
    Sense id: simple-gay-en-adj-BaJaYNiq
  3. A gay person is usually a man sexually attracted to males; also a woman attracted to females. . Synonyms: homosexual
    Sense id: simple-gay-en-adj-pfbLywSl
  4. stupid, not cool, it's exactly the antonym of senses 1 and 2.
    Sense id: simple-gay-en-adj-Vih6BrQo Categories (other): Vulgar

Noun

IPA: /geɪ/ [UK], /geɪ/ [US] Audio: en-us-gay.ogg [US] Forms: gay [singular], gays [plural]
enPR: /gā/ [UK], /gā/ [US] Head templates: {{noun}} [POS TABLE]
  1. A homosexual person. This is usually a man, but could be a woman (lesbian).
    Sense id: simple-gay-en-noun-NQntGAcz Categories (other): Colloquial
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gay",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gayer",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gayest",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "gay",
        "2": "gayer",
        "3": "gayest"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I'm very gay today!"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "happy or cheerful."
      ],
      "id": "simple-gay-en-adj-hkFGs3VJ"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Don we now our gay apparel...."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "colorful, festive or bright."
      ],
      "id": "simple-gay-en-adj-BaJaYNiq"
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Gay marriage used to be impossible, but it's becoming more common."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A gay person is usually a man sexually attracted to males; also a woman attracted to females. ."
      ],
      "id": "simple-gay-en-adj-pfbLywSl",
      "raw_tags": [
        "can be offensive"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "homosexual"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Vulgar",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "This game is gay. Let's play something else."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "stupid, not cool, it's exactly the antonym of senses 1 and 2."
      ],
      "id": "simple-gay-en-adj-Vih6BrQo",
      "raw_tags": [
        "offensive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "/gā/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/geɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/geI/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "/gā/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/geɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/geI/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-gay.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "gay"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gay",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gays",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Colloquial",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The gays were marching in protest yesterday."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A homosexual person. This is usually a man, but could be a woman (lesbian)."
      ],
      "id": "simple-gay-en-noun-NQntGAcz",
      "raw_tags": [
        "often offensive",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "/gā/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/geɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/geI/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "/gā/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/geɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/geI/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-gay.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "gay"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gay",
      "tags": [
        "positive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gayer",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gayest",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "gay",
        "2": "gayer",
        "3": "gayest"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I'm very gay today!"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "happy or cheerful."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Don we now our gay apparel...."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "colorful, festive or bright."
      ]
    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Gay marriage used to be impossible, but it's becoming more common."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A gay person is usually a man sexually attracted to males; also a woman attracted to females. ."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "can be offensive"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "homosexual"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Vulgar"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "This game is gay. Let's play something else."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "stupid, not cool, it's exactly the antonym of senses 1 and 2."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "offensive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "/gā/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/geɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/geI/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "/gā/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/geɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/geI/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-gay.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "gay"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "gay",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "gays",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Colloquial"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The gays were marching in protest yesterday."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A homosexual person. This is usually a man, but could be a woman (lesbian)."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "often offensive",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "/gā/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/geɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/geI/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "enpr": "/gā/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/geɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "sampa": "/geI/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-gay.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "gay"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-21 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2025-04-03 using wiktextract (87ad358 and ea19a0a). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.