Etymology From Middle English deye, deie, daie, from Old English dǣġe (“maker of bread; baker; dairy-maid”), from Proto-West Germanic *daigijā, from Proto-Germanic *daigijǭ (“kneader of bread, maid”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to knead, form, build”). Cognate with Swedish deja, Icelandic deigja (“dairy-maid”); compare dairy, dough, lady.
Pronunciation spelling Pronunciation spelling of their, representing African-American Vernacular English.
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Pronunciation spelling Pronunciation spelling of there, representing African-American Vernacular English or Caribbean English.
“Boy, is horrors over dey, for so,” he said, obviously excited and anxious to be the bearer of extraordinary news. “Wat happen, somebody dead?”2012, G. Modele Dale Clarke, Up in Mahaica: Stories from the Market People (ebook), Xlibris:
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Pronunciation spelling Pronunciation spelling of they, representing dialects with th-stopping in English
dey
intj
Singapore [ˈde(ː)]
Etymology From Tamil டேய் (“hey!”).
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Manglish, Singlish An informal Tamil-language term of address used when trying to get someone's attention.
Dey! Did you press the lift button? What? You have pressed the button for the tenth time?2007, Elangovan, P, Singapore, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 46:
Dei, you think what, President’s Star Charity ah?2012 February 7 [2007], Laremy Lee, Radio Silence, →ISBN:
1 more example
If a player makes a silly mistake, he doesn’t wail when told to “wake up lah, dey”.2007 September 10, Sandra Leong, The Straits Times, quoted in Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, A Dictionary of Singlish and Singapore English, Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings Limited, →OCLC, page 6:
dey
noun
Etymology From French dey, from Algerian Arabic داي from Ottoman Turkish دایی (modern Turkish dayı).
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Historical The ruler of the Regency of Algiers (now Algeria) under the Ottoman Empire.
[…] the reigning Dey of Algiers (half of whose twenty-eight predecessors are said to have met violent ends) lost his temper with the French consul, struck him in the face with a fly-whisk, and called him ‘a wicked, faithless, idol-worshipping rascal’.1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 29: