gay

• adj. 快乐的；放荡的；艳丽的
• n. 同性恋者
• n. (Gay)人名；(西)加伊；(英、法、瑞典、毛里塔)盖伊

词源不详，可能同joy, gaudy. 原义为欢乐的，因与同性恋联系在一起，该词义现已少用。同性恋义来自同性恋行话，据说是来自gay cat，快乐猫咪。

1. someone who practices homosexuality; having a sexual attraction to persons of the same sex

gay

gay: [13] English borrowed gay from Old French gai, an adjective of uncertain origin connected by some with Old High German gāhi ‘sudden, impulsive’. ‘Happy’ is its ancestral meaning, stretching back to Old French gai. The 20thcentury sense ‘homosexual’, which first came into general use in the 1950s, can probably be traced back to the 17th-century meaning ‘sexually dissolute’.

By the early 19th century it was being applied specifically to the world of prostitution, and it seems not unlikely that male prostitutes and their male clients could have been the vector for the present-day usage. A reported 1868 song by the US female impersonator Will S. Hays was supposedly called ‘The Gay Young Clerk in the Dry Goods Store’, but it is not entirely clear what ‘gay’ is supposed to have meant here, and the earliest reliable printed record of the ‘homosexual’ sense is from 1933.

The adjective underwent a further semantic flipflop in the early 21st century, when kids’ slang commandeered it, paradoxically, for ‘sad’.

gay (adj.)

late 14c., "full of joy, merry; light-hearted, carefree;" also "wanton, lewd, lascivious" (late 12c. as a surname, Philippus de Gay), from Old French gai "joyful, happy; pleasant, agreeably charming; forward, pert; light-colored" (12c.; compare Old Spanish gayo, Portuguese gaio, Italian gajo, probably French loan-words). Ultimate origin disputed; perhaps from Frankish *gahi (related to Old High German wahi "pretty"), though not all etymologists accept this. Meaning "stately and beautiful; splendid and showily dressed" is from early 14c. In the English of Yorkshire and Scotland formerly it could mean "moderately, rather, considerable" (1796; compare sense development in pretty (adj.)).

The word gay by the 1890s had an overall tinge of promiscuity -- a gay house was a brothel. The suggestion of immorality in the word can be traced back at least to the 1630s, if not to Chaucer:

But in oure bed he was so fressh and gay
Whan that he wolde han my bele chose.

Slang meaning "homosexual" (adj.) begins to appear in psychological writing late 1940s, evidently picked up from gay slang and not always easily distinguished from the older sense:

After discharge A.Z. lived for some time at home. He was not happy at the farm and went to a Western city where he associated with a homosexual crowd, being "gay," and wearing female clothes and makeup. He always wished others would make advances to him. ["Rorschach Research Exchange and Journal of Projective Techniques," 1947, p.240]

The association with (male) homosexuality likely got a boost from the term gay cat, used as far back as 1893 in American English for "young hobo," one who is new on the road, also one who sometimes does jobs.

"A Gay Cat," said he, "is a loafing laborer, who works maybe a week, gets his wages and vagabonds about hunting for another 'pick and shovel' job. Do you want to know where they got their monica (nickname) 'Gay Cat'? See, Kid, cats sneak about and scratch immediately after chumming with you and then get gay (fresh). That's why we call them 'Gay Cats'." [Leon Ray Livingston ("America's Most Celebrated Tramp"), "Life and Adventures of A-no. 1," 1910]

Quoting a tramp named Frenchy, who might not have known the origin. Gay cats were severely and cruelly abused by "real" tramps and bums, who considered them "an inferior order of beings who begs of and otherwise preys upon the bum -- as it were a jackal following up the king of beasts" [Prof. John J. McCook, "Tramps," in "The Public Treatment of Pauperism," 1893], but some accounts report certain older tramps would dominate a gay cat and employ him as a sort of slave. In "Sociology and Social Research" (1932-33) a paragraph on the "gay cat" phenomenon notes, "Homosexual practices are more common than rare in this group," and gey cat "homosexual boy" is attested in Noel Erskine's 1933 dictionary of "Underworld & Prison Slang" (gey is a Scottish variant of gay).

The "Dictionary of American Slang" reports that gay (adj.) was used by homosexuals, among themselves, in this sense since at least 1920. Rawson ["Wicked Words"] notes a male prostitute using gay in reference to male homosexuals (but also to female prostitutes) in London's notorious Cleveland Street Scandal of 1889. Ayto ["20th Century Words"] calls attention to the ambiguous use of the word in the 1868 song "The Gay Young Clerk in the Dry Goods Store," by U.S. female impersonator Will S. Hays, but the word evidently was not popularly felt in this sense by wider society until the 1950s at the earliest.

"Gay" (or "gai") is now widely used in French, Dutch, Danish, Japanese, Swedish, and Catalan with the same sense as the English. It is coming into use in Germany and among the English-speaking upper classes of many cosmopolitan areas in other countries. [John Boswell, "Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality," 1980]

As a teen slang word meaning "bad, inferior, undesirable," without reference to sexuality, from 2000.

gay (n.)

"a (usually male) homosexual," by 1971, from gay (adj.). In Middle English it meant "excellent person, noble lady, gallant knight," also "something gay or bright; an ornament or badge" (c. 1400).

happy, glad, cheerful, joyful, merry, delightful, gay, pleasant, nice, jolly, agreeable

这些形容词均含"愉快的，高兴的"之意。

happy： 侧重感到满足、幸福或高兴。

glad： 最普通用词，语气较弱，表示礼貌的惯用语。指乐于做某事或因某事而感到满足，常表愉快的心情。

cheerful： 多指因内心的愉快而表现出兴高采烈，是强调而自然的感情流露。

joyful： 语气较强，强调心情或感情上的欣喜。

merry： 指精神情绪的暂时高涨，表示欢乐、愉快的心境或情景，侧重充满欢笑声和乐趣。

delightful： 指能带来强烈的快乐，激起愉快的情感，用于非常愉快的场合。

gay： 侧重无忧无虑、精神昂扬、充满生命的快乐。

pleasant： 侧重给人以"赏心悦目"或"愉快的，宜人的"感受。

nice： 语气较温和，泛指任何愉快或满意的感觉。

jolly： 通俗用词，多指充满快乐与喜悦的神情。

agreeable： 指与感受者的愿望、情趣或受好等和谐一致而带来的心情上的快意。

gay men

搞同性恋的男人

牛津词典

I didn't know he was gay.

我不知道他是同性恋者。

牛津词典

Is she gay?

她是同性恋者吗？

牛津词典

a gay club/bar

同性恋者俱乐部 / 酒吧

牛津词典

the lesbian and gay community

男女同性恋者群落

牛津词典

gay laughter

欢快的笑声

牛津词典

The garden was gay with red geraniums.

花园里红色的天竺葵花色彩艳丽。

牛津词典

...the gay community.

同性恋者群落

柯林斯高阶英语词典

I am happy and free, in good health, gay and cheerful.

我快活自由，身体健康，积极乐观。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

I like gay, relaxing paintings.

我喜欢色彩鲜艳、让人放松的画。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

The quality of life for gay men has improved over the last two decades.

同性恋者的生活质量在过去20年里有了改善。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

My true love will buy me a gay golden ring.

我的爱人会给我戴上闪亮的戒指.

期刊摘选

She leads a gay and wild life.

她过着放荡不羁的生活.

《简明英汉词典》

The children were gay and cheerful.

孩子们都很高兴.

《简明英汉词典》

A poet could not but be gay in such a jocund company.

一个诗人在这种兴高采烈的同伴中自然而然地会快乐.

《现代英汉综合大词典》

He has crusaded tirelessly for women's and gay rights.

他孜孜不倦地为争取妇女和同性恋者的权利而奋斗.

《简明英汉词典》

She likes to stay at home, but her husband is a bit of a gay dog.

她喜欢待在家里, 但她的丈夫是个有点爱好社交生活的人.

《简明英汉词典》

The city was gay with all colors of bunting.

这个城市到处飘扬着五色缤纷的旗帜.

《现代英汉综合大词典》

The conversation is light and gay.

谈话轻松愉快.

《简明英汉词典》

Gay broad leaves shone and swung in rhyme.

轻盈的宽叶子有节奏地闪烁摇摆.

《现代英汉综合大词典》

The streets were crammed with gay, laughing crowd.

街上挤满了欢乐嬉笑的人群.

《简明英汉词典》

Spring comes round to the earth again and everything looks fresh and gay.

春回大地,万象更新.

《现代汉英综合大词典》

Don't get gay in the presence of so many people.

不要在那么多人面前放肆.

《简明英汉词典》

The wedding activities were very gay.

结婚庆祝活动很热闹.

《现代英汉综合大词典》

It was not money that lured the adolescent husbandman to the cities, but the gay life.

把那个青年农民引诱到城市的东西不是金钱, 而是那里的欢乐生活.

《用法词典》