Other forms: jays
A jay is a pinkish woodland bird with a flash of blue on its wing. A jay in the oak, jays screeching, spot a jay.
It is a crow, and as clever as one: jays bury thousands of acorns each autumn and remember enough of them to plant oak woods where they forget. The blue wing patch is unmistakable and the call is a harsh screech. Note jaywalking, which uses jay in an old American sense meaning a foolish country person.
1nounjayA pinkish woodland bird with a flash of blue on its wing.
“We heard the harsh cry of a jay somewhere in the woods.”
jay is a bird.
Old French jai, probably from Latin gaius, a jay, or from a Frankish word meaning lively. The bird may be named for its bright plumage.
Latin
gaius — jay
Old French
jai
Middle English
jay
English, today
jay
Built from
From Middle English jay, from Old French jai "jay"; Modern French geai, either from Latin gaius (“jay”), or from Old French gai (“gay, merry”), so named due to its plumage, from Old Frankish gahi (“quick, impetuous”), from Proto-Germanic ganhuz, ganhwaz (“sudden”), cognate with Dutch gaai (“jay”). More at gay.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA