hey

Etymology 1

From Middle English hey, hei, also without h- in ey, from Old English *hē, ēa (interjection), attested as first element in hēlā, ēalā (“O!, alas!, oh!, lo!”). Cognate with Dutch hé, hei (“hi, hey”), German hei (“hey, wow”), Danish and Swedish hej (“hello, hey”), Faroese hey (“hey, hello”), Old Norse, Icelandic and Norwegian hei (“hey”), Polish hej (“hey, hello”), Romanian hei, Russian эй (ej, “hey”); see heigh. Probably a natural expression, as may be inferred from its presence with similar meaning in many other unrelated languages: for example, Burmese ဟေး (he:), Finnish hei, Unami hè, and Mandarin 哎 (āi), and various sound-alikes as Ancient Greek εἶα (eîa) and Latin eia, eho, Sanskrit हे (he). See also hello.

intj

1. An exclamation to get attention.
   Hey, look at this!
   Hey! Listen!
2. A protest or reprimand.
   Hey! Stop that!
3. An expression of surprise.
   Hey! This is new!
4. An informal greeting, similar to hi.
   Hey! How's it going?
5. A request for repetition or explanation; an expression of confusion.
   Hey? How's that?
6. Used as a tag question, to emphasise what goes before or to request that the listener express an opinion about what has been said.
   "Who 's a cur - now - hey?" 1900, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, page vi. 54
7. A meaningless beat marker or extra, filler syllable in song lyrics.
   The chorus is "nana na na, nana na na hey hey hey, goodbye".

Etymology 2

From French haie (“hedge”), with reference to the weaving patterns used in hedgelaying.

noun

1. (country dancing) A choreographic figure in which three or more dancers weave between one another, passing by left and right shoulder alternately.

Etymology 3

See he.

noun

1. Alternative spelling of he (“Hebrew letter”)