ey

Etymology 1

From Middle English ei, ey, from Old English ǣġ, from Proto-West Germanic *aij, from Proto-Germanic *ajją, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm. Doublet of egg and ovum. This native English form was displaced by the Old Norse derived egg in the 16th century, most likely due to its clashing with the word eye, wherewith it had come to be a homonym.

noun

1. (obsolete) An egg.
   And one of theym... cam in to an hows and axed for mete and specyally he axyd after eggys, and the goode wyf answerde that she could speke no Frenshe. And the marchaunt was angry, for he also coude speke no Frenshe, but wolde have hadde egges; and she understode hym not. And thenne at laste a-nother sayd that he wolde have eyren. Then the good wyf sayd that she understod hym wel. Loo, what sholde a man in thyse dayes now wryte, egges, or eyren? Certaynly it is hard to playse every man, by-cause of dyversite and chaunge of langage. 1490, William Caxton, Prologue to Eneydos
   Take brothe of capons withoute herbes, and breke eyren, and cast into the pot, and make a crudde therof, and colour hit with saffron, and then presse oute the brothe and kerve it on leches; and then take swete creme of almondes, or of cowe mylk, and boyle hit; […] 1787, originally 1381, Liber quotidianus contrarotulatoris garderobae

Etymology 2

Coined by Christine M. Elverson in 1975 by removing the "th" from they.

pron

1. (rare, epicene, nonstandard) A gender-neutral third-person singular subject pronoun, one of the so-called Spivak pronouns, equivalent to the singular they and coordinate with gendered pronouns he and she.
   Eir sentences would sound smoother since ey wouldn't clutter them with the old sexist pronouns. And if ey should trip up in the new usage, ey would only have emself to blame. 1975-08-23, Judie Black, “Ey has a word for it”, in Chicago Tribune, section 1, page 12
   I'm not familiar with this book, but I encourage Marksmill to look for it-- and while ey is at it, to also look at a number of other books. 1996-12-22, Shirley Worth, “New To Yoga”, in alt.yoga (Usenet), message-ID <32BDCA0C.6C8@worth.org>
   If a mobile user is far from eir home area, ey will pay a long-distance fee for carriage of the call *from* eir home area, just as a caller would pay long-distance on a call *to* that area. 1997-11-25, Scott Robert Dawson, “Who Pays for Cellular Calls”, in alt.cellular (Usenet), message-ID <347acf56.333719@news.interlog.com>

Etymology 3

From Middle English ei, i, ie, from Old English ēġ, īġ, īeġ, from Proto-West Germanic *auwju, from Proto-Germanic *awjō (“watery land, floodplain, island”), earlier *agwjō ~ *ahwjō (literally “(that which is) of the water”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ékʷeh₂ (“flowing water”) + *-yeh₂.

noun

1. (UK) A small island formed by the buildup of silt or gravel at the confluence of two rivers or streams.
   Now it will be seen that each of the three small streamlets named forms, at its junction with the larger river into which it flows, an ey, or island, of this latter kind — Crip's-ey, Dom's-ey, and Pin's-ey, respectively; and I suggest that, from these three eys, each of the three streams indicated derived the final element of its name. 1927, Essex Naturalist, page 280
   Runnymede Bridge is situated on an 'ey' – a small gravel islet close to the river bank. 2009, Julie Wileman, War and Rumours of War, page 81
2. A place that has a name ending in "-ey" because it is or was located at such an island.
   Among the many eys, eyots, or islands, clustering about Oxford, at or near the confluence of the Isis and Cherwell, viz., Binsey, Botley, Hinksey, Iffley, Osney, Oxey, Pixey, &c., there are two, vis., Osney and Oxey, which manifestly enshrine this rivername. January 28, 1888, Walter de Gray Birch, “WASA, ISIS, OCK”, in Academy and Literature, volume 33, number 821, page 63
   In Saxon the word ey meant peninsula as well as island, and there are plenty of other eys about —Langney and Hydeney and Horsey to wit, Chilly and Rickney and Northeye and Mountney. 1924, Arthur Hadrian Allcroft, Downland Pathways, page 76
   Bermondsey, Stepney, Hackney; there are many of these 'eys' in London and they were all once islands, or higher, dryer points in the surrounding marshlands. 2018, Bob Gilbert, Ghost Trees: Nature and People in a London Parish