aye

1 of 3

adverb (1)

ˈī 

variants or less commonly ay

: yes

aye, aye, sir

aye

2 of 3

noun

ˈī 

variants or less commonly ay

plural ayes

: an affirmative vote or voter

the ayes have it

aye

3 of 3

adverb (2)

ˈā 

variants or less commonly ay

: always, continually, ever

love that will aye endure

—W. S. Gilbert

Synonyms

Adverb (1)

• always
• consistently
• constantly
• continually
• ever
• forever
• incessantly
• invariably
• night and day
• perpetually
• unfailingly

Adverb (2)

• all right
• alright
• exactly
• OK
• okay
• okeydoke
• okeydokey
• yea
• yeah
• yep
• yes
• yo

Examples of aye in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

New charges were filed against Donald Trump in the classified documents case, Sen. Dianne Feinstein gets confused and has to be told to vote aye, and a new bill could eliminate rates for many student loan borrowers. —Dana Taylor, USA TODAY, 28 July 2023

Last week, the House Republicans passed their debt-limit budget bill, with all but four members of their caucus voting aye. —Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 17 May 2023

Even Mitch McConnell, who led the Supreme Court blockade of Garland five years ago, was an aye vote for Garland when his nomination reached the Senate floor. —Matt Ford, The New Republic, 26 Apr. 2021

Despite the unanimity of the vote, Vice Chair Liz Cheney still called for a roll call tally for posterity, and each member once more solemnly cast their aye vote individually. —Grace Segers, The New Republic, 13 Oct. 2022

Word History

Etymology

Adverb (1)

of uncertain origin

Note: Perhaps a univerbation in Middle English of the interjection ah ah entry 1 and the affirmative ye yea entry 1 with shift of stress; however, Middle English evidence for such a phrase is lacking.

Noun

noun derivative of aye entry 1

Adverb (2)

Middle English ay, borrowed from Old Norse ei, ey, æ "ever, forever," going back to Germanic *aiwim or *aiwom (whence also Old English ā "always, ever, eternally," Old Saxon io, eo "ever, at any time, always," Old High German io, eo "on every occasion, always," Gothic ni … aiw "never"), accusative forms, used adverbially, of *aiwis or *aiwos "time, eternity" (whence Old Frisian ēwe "eternity," Old Saxon and Old High German ēwa, Middle Dutch ēwe, ee "age, eternity"), going back to Indo-European *h₂ei̯-u̯o- "eternity, age," whence also Latin aevus, aevum "time as the medium in which events occur, age, lifetime"; also, from a stem h₂ei̯-u̯-on-, Greek aiṓn "lifetime, long period of time, age"; and from a u-stem with ablaut and shifting stress *h₂ói̯-u-, *h₂i̯-éu̯-s, Sanskrit ā́yuḥ "vital force," Avestan āiiu (nominative), yaoš (genitive) "lifetime"

Note: In Middle English the outcome of the Old Norse word has fallen together with the outcome of Old English -æg (as in dæg "day"). Old English ā continued into Middle English as o, oo, and the two words may occur combined as "(for) ay and oo," meaning "forever." For incorporation of ā into compounds in Old English see aught entry 1, no entry 1, naught entry 1, each entry 1. Overlapping in formation with this Germanic etymon is a homonymous root evident in Old English ǣ "law, marriage," Old Frisian ē, ēwe, iōwe "law," Old Saxon ēo, ēu, Old High German ēwa, ēwī "law, command, covenant" (see echt). The two roots have been taken by some as identical, with the sense "law" a concretization of the sense "what lasts, what always exists."

First Known Use

Adverb (1)

1576, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1589, in the meaning defined above

Adverb (2)

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing aye

• aye-aye

Kids Definition

aye

1 of 3 adverb

variants also ay

ˈā 

: forever sense 1, always

aye

2 of 3 adverb

variants also ay

ˈī 

: yes entry 1 sense 1

aye, aye, sir

aye

3 of 3 noun

variants also ay

ˈī 

plural ayes

: a vote yes or a person who votes yes

Etymology

Adverb

Middle English aye "always"; of Scandinavian origin

Adverb

perhaps from Middle English ye "yes, yea"