English
jay
Jay comes from Middle English jay ‘jay (bird)’, and goes back to Old French jai.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400jai1‘jay’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500jay1‘jay’
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1611jay1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English jay
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline: “Some jay of Italy, / Whose mother was her…”.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400jaiWiktionary, English jay‘jay’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500jayWiktionary, English jay‘jay’
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1611jayWiktionary, English jay. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline: “Some jay of Italy, / Whose mother was her…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with jay, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- ‘to stride, step’
12 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun Any of the numerous species of birds belonging to several genera within the family Corvidae, including Garrulus, Cyanocitta, Aphelocoma, Perisoreus, Cyanocorax, Gymnorhinus, Cyanolyca, Ptilostomus, and Calocitta, allied to the crows, but smaller, more graceful in form, often handsomely coloured, usually having a crest, and often noisy.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “jay”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Old French jai / jay