guy
pronunciation
How to pronounce guy in British English:
UK [ɡaɪ]
How to pronounce guy in American English:
US [ɡaɪ]
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- Noun:
- an informal term for a youth or man
- a rope or cable that is used to brace something (especially a tent)
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- Verb:
- subject to laughter or ridicule
- steady or support with with a guy wire or cable
Word Origin
- guy
- guy: English has two separate words guy. The guy of guy rope [14] was probably borrowed from a Low German word (of which Dutch gei ‘rope used for hauling a sail in’ may well be a descendant), but its ultimate ancestry is not clear. Guy ‘fellow, man’ [19] originated as an American English generalization of guy ‘effigy of Guy Fawkes burned on 5 November’ – a sense first recorded in 1806.
- guy (n.1)
- "small rope, chain, wire," 1620s, nautical; earlier "leader" (mid-14c.), from Old French guie "a guide," also "a crane, derrick," from guier (see guide (v.)); or from a related word in North Sea Germanic.
- guy (n.2)
- "fellow," 1847, American English; earlier, in British English (1836) "grotesquely or poorly dressed person," originally (1806) "effigy of Guy Fawkes," leader of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up British king and Parliament (Nov. 5, 1605). The effigies were paraded through the streets by children on the anniversary of the conspiracy. The male proper name is from French, related to Italian Guido.
Example
- 1. He 's a very smart and ambitious guy .
- 2. He 's not a car guy , you know .
- 3. Maybe this guy would make a better friend .
- 4. Ask the guy with the stretch hummer .
- 5. That guy bragged about his good looks again .