# Word thing: Quay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 10, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893 "2005-03-10T20:20:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/1 "2005-03-10T20:20:36Z")
I know what a “quay” is - but I’ve heard it pronounced both “kay” and “kee”. Which is correct, or more correct if both are common. Also, did the name of the Florida Keys come from this word? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/2 "2005-03-10T20:39:45Z")
M-W lists the “kee” first, “kway” second. “Key” as in an island comes from Spanish “Cayo,” meaning “island.” “Key West” ultimately was from the Spanish “Cayo Hueso,” which means “Bone Island.” ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/3 "2005-03-10T20:45:55Z")
To make matters more confusing: “Key” and “Cay” have a common origin in the Spanish “cayo.” “Quay,” which may be pronounced “kee,” “kay,” or “kway,” has an unrelated origin in Celtic apparently meaning “hedge” or “fence.” ( ---
**Author:** ![daffyduck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@daffyduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffyduck)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/4 "2005-03-10T20:49:15Z")
Here’s the etymology, incluiding key: > **[quay | Search Online Etymology Dictionary](https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=quay)** > > The online etymology dictionary (etymonline) is the internet's go-to source for quick and reliable accounts of the origin and history of English words, phrases, and idioms. It is professional enough to satisfy academic standards, but accessible... Have fun! ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/5 "2005-03-10T21:03:34Z")
It’s pronounced “kee” here. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/6 "2005-03-10T21:03:57Z")
We also pronounce it “key”. Maybe it’s a British thing? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/7 "2005-03-10T21:13:09Z")
There used to be a bar near my Uni called “The Quay”. Which would lead to all sorts of confusion, since no one really agreed on how it should be pronounced: “Let’s all meet up ‘Key’ tonight.” “Where’s that?” “Just up on the corner of Fletcher and 15th” “I know a place called the ‘Qway’ there” Later, inevitably someone would drive right past, not realising that Quay should be pronounced “Key”. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/8 "2005-03-10T21:27:30Z")
Until this thread, I’d never heard it pronounced any other way than ‘key’. ‘Kay’ sounds to me like possible Spanish/Hispanic adaptations of the pronunciation. And ‘kway’ just sounds silly 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/9 "2005-03-10T21:32:54Z")
[aaaaah, it’s a hijack, run away] We’re studying Don Quixote in my Humanities class, and my teacher pronounces it “kee-show-t”. I’ve always pronounced it “kee-ho-tee”. Am I an idiot? [/aaaah, hijack] ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/10 "2005-03-10T21:37:36Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > [aaaaah, it’s a hijack, run away] > > We’re studying Don Quixote in my Humanities class, and my teacher pronounces it “kee-show-t”. I’ve always pronounced it “kee-ho-tee”. Am I an idiot? > > [/aaaah, hijack] No, you’re not. He/she is. [Further hijack] Byron’s _Don Juan_ is only pronounced ‘Don Hu-an’ by the ignorant. The rhyme structures require ‘Don Jew-an’. [/Further Hijack] ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/11 "2005-03-10T21:46:24Z")
The only time I’ve heard it pronounced _kay_ was by a male Irish singer i’ve forgotten singing the beautiful but kitschly-titled _Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore_: > [@](#): > > From Der-ry “kay” > We sail’d a-way… It might be an Irish thing, or it may have just been a convenience for the rhyme. I can’t help thinking that it’s simply a confusing word because it’s _kee_ instead of _kway_ and that that confusion has somehow been enhanced by confusion with that confusion and the confusion over _key_ and _cay_. Confused? I am. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/12 "2005-03-10T22:12:41Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > We also pronounce it “key”. Maybe it’s a British thing? Not at all. In Britain it is only ever pronounced “key”. It is, as others have said, etymologically unrelated to “cay” and “key” in the sense of an island – as well it should be, as the meaning is also entirely unrelated. A quay is a wharf, not an island. **Earl** correctly identified the origin - from Celtic meaning hedge or fence, via Old French _kai_. There are several place names in Britain including the word, for example Newquay (one word) in Cornwall, and New Quay (two words) which is in Wales. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/13 "2005-03-10T22:20:16Z")
Once as a kid when I was visiting India, one of my cousins said he was studying “Don Quick-zote” [kwIkzot] in class. Two syllables! That’s the ultimate Anclicization. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/14 "2005-03-10T22:34:32Z")
“Quayside” is correctly used and pronounced in the lyrics of XTC’s [“All You Pretty Girls”](http://chalkhills.org/reelbyreal/s_Girls.html). But then, Andy Partridge, et al, are English. An American songwriter would probably use “bayside” or expressions like “by the pier/dock/wharf/shore…”. This isn’t always a bad thing, either. Had “quay” and “quayside” been more commonly used on this side of the Atlantic, Otis Redding might have struggled to breathe life into the ungainly phrase “Sittin’ on the Quayside Dock”. ::shudder:: ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/15 "2005-03-10T22:44:38Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > We also pronounce it “key”. Maybe it’s a British thing? Not always. I used to go skiing every weekend at a place called Norquay. All of my friend and most other people I knew pronounced it Norkway. There were a few people who called it Nor Kee - and I always thought that was some sort of eccentricity. That is until I moved to Toronto and asked somebody about Queens Qway and was met with a most befuddled stare. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/16 "2005-03-10T22:52:32Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > “Quayside” is correctly used and pronounced in the lyrics of XTC’s [“All You Pretty Girls”](http://chalkhills.org/reelbyreal/s_Girls.html). But then, Andy Partridge, et al, are English. An American songwriter would probably use “bayside” or expressions like “by the pier/dock/wharf/shore…”. > > This isn’t always a bad thing, either. Had “quay” and “quayside” been more commonly used on this side of the Atlantic, Otis Redding might have struggled to breathe life into the ungainly phrase “Sittin’ on the Quayside Dock”. ::shudder:: Reading your first sentence, I started thinking of Otis! … and until now, it never occured to me that “sitting by the dock of the bay” makes absolutely no sense in British English. And a quick search of [streetmap.co.uk](http://streetmap.co.uk) gives about 80 ‘Quay Street’ or 'Quay Road’s. And I’d stake my shirt on every one being pronounced the same way 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/17 "2005-03-10T22:54:29Z")
> [@adam yax](#): > > Not always. I used to go skiing every weekend at a place called Norquay. All of my friend and most other people I knew pronounced it Norkway. There were a few people who called it Nor Kee - and I always thought that was some sort of eccentricity. That is until I moved to Toronto and asked somebody about Queens Qway and was met with a most befuddled stare. I think you’re missing the point of the suggestion that it’s a “British thing” - the Canadian (or at least Toronto) and Australian pronunciations seem to match the British one, and it’s the American version that’s different. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/18 "2005-03-10T22:54:53Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > The only time I’ve heard it pronounced _kay_ was by a male Irish singer i’ve forgotten singing the beautiful but kitschly-titled _Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore_: > > It might be an Irish thing, or it may have just been a convenience for the rhyme. Yes, see, that’s where I learned the word, only from a different song, _Star of the County Down_: “From Derry “kay” up to Banbridge bay…” I’ve since heard it pronounced “kay” in other Irish songs. Yet in my audiobook version of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander, the reader (who is either British or Scots - she does both accents admirably well) says “key.” ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/19 "2005-03-10T22:58:59Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > Yes, see, that’s where I learned the word, only from a different song, _Star of the County Down_: > > “From Derry “kay” > up to Banbridge bay…” > > I’ve since heard it pronounced “kay” in other Irish songs. Yet in my audiobook version of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander, the reader (who is either British or Scots - she does both accents admirably well) says “key.” There’s a good explanation for the Irish pronunciation being different - the Irish for quay or dock is _Cé_, pronounced ‘kay’, so it’s likely that this has dominated over the English pronunciation of ‘quay’. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893/20 "2005-03-11T00:18:34Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > There’s a good explanation for the Irish pronunciation being different - the Irish for quay or dock is _Cé_, pronounced ‘kay’, so it’s likely that this has dominated over the English pronunciation of ‘quay’. AHA!!! So basically when I _see_ “from Derry quay up to Banbridge Bay,” the word “quay” is simply the word “ce” being misspelled by English-speaking transcribers, and since it means the same thing, it’s no biggie? Thank you! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-thing-quay/293893.md?page=2)