Hay
/heɪ/noun
Grass or other plants that have been cut, dried, and stored as fodder for animals.
Did you know?Hay comes from an old Germanic word for cut grass, and it’s part of the same deep language family that gave English words like hedge and harvest.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*hauwą
“what is cut; cut herbage, fodder”
Old English
OE
hieg / hēg
“hay; grass cut and dried for fodder”
Middle English
ME
hay
“hay; dried grass used as fodder”
Modern English
English
hay
“dried grass or other herbage used as animal fodder”